Varun guides St Paul's to big win

St Paul's Varun Waghela (right) is tackled by a St Lawrence player yesterday. Pic/Bipin Kokate

St Paul's (Dadar) functioned as a well-oiled machine and stormed to an authoritative 3-0 win against St Lawrence (Borivli) in a boys' U-14 Div-II league match of the Mumbai Schools Sports Association-organised inter-schools football tournament at Azad Maidan yesterday.

The Dadar lads showed good understanding and excellent teamwork. They perfectly utilised the flanks to attack in waves and were dominant throughout the match. The wingers Varun Waghela on the left and the diminutive Omkar on the right made some threatening runs down the flanks and sprayed teasing passes into the rival area. But their strikers were hasty and were unable to capitalise on the openings.

Omkar gave St Paul's the lead when he darted in from the right to meet Devarsh Pawar's forward pass and then dodged past one defender before slotting past St Lawrence goalkeeper Danish Patel in the 16th minute. Later, a combined move between Omkar, Dhruv Pawar and Atharva Rewale resulted in the latter punting the ball forward for Varun, who fired into the roof of the net at the stroke of half-time. Varun then sent in a measured cross for substitute Manthan Mistry to tap home from close in the 48th minute.

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