Inter-school Football: Skipper Anamay helps Utpal Sanghvi stun St Francis D’Assisi

Utpal Sanghvi Global School skipper Anamay Arora at Borivli yesterday. Pic/Anurag Ahire

Captain Anamay Arora, 14, led from the front, scoring the opening goal from the penalty spot and marshaling his troops well as Utpal Sanghvi Global School (Juhu) beat a fancied St Francis D'Assisi High School (Borivli) 2-1 in their own backyard in the MSSA boys U-16 Div-II semi-final on Friday.

Minutes before the half-time whistle, the crafty Anamay got the better of last defender Rishi Patel, but was tripped inside the D'Assisi box. Referee Divyesh Ulve immediately pointed to the spot and Anamay beat goalkeeper Dhruv Sharma with a firm left-footed shot to the right corner.

Earlier, the D'Assisi boys started in attacking fashion and their forwards launched a series of raids at the rival goal, but without success. D'Assisi's Yuvraj Londhe was unlucky as his 20-yard free-kick hit the horizontal bar and bounced over.

Utpal Sanghvi doubled the lead when Laksh Shah picked up a pass just inside the rival half and launched into a solo run and with a clever left-footed angular shot past goalkeeper Dhruv to give his team a 2-0 cushion.

The D'Assisi lads fought on gamely and showed great intent, but could only manage to score a late consolation goal. Viren Shah scored off a direct free-kick in the fourth minute of stoppage time.