PUNE, Sept 1: Lokmanya Tilak High School's Umesh Gavas proved a deciding factor in the result of his teams' encounter against fancied St. Vincent's to bag the under-17 title of the PDMGSC organised Nehru Cup hockey meet at the PCMC Poligras Stadium, Nehrunagar here today.After playing out a 1-1 draw in the 40 minutes of regular time, Lokmanya found a saviors in Umesh who saved two strokes. Interestingly, Umesh took the goal as a make-shift keeper in the tie-breaker, after assisting his team up-front during regulation time .
Lokmanya played a fast combined game which was assisted by some short accurate passes which continued all through the match. However it was Vincent's who made the first break-through in the 15th minute. Left-in Kartik Damani moving into position well managed to convert a free-hit taken by Jude George from just outside the circle which beat keeper' Ganesh Nagesh.
Prakash Deshmukh made it 1-1 in the fifth minute of the second-half. Centre forward Prakash setting off on a solo on the right moved into the striking circle and finished off with a good tuck to custodian Mayur Gupte's right.With either team failing to force a result, the tie-breaker had to be implied. Asif Abdul, Shailesh Hanumanth, Sanjay Sudhakar, Baburao Gavas scored for the winners, while Jude George and Elvis Cardoso managed to find the net after custodian Umesh blocked Ganesh Hegde and Kartik Damani's attempts.
ALL SAINTS TRIUMPH: In the under-15 final All Saints High School, Kirkee defeated St. Patrick's 4-3 via tie-breaker after sharing honours 1-1 at the end of full-time.
The win was a repeat of the previous final with the All Saint's Vinod Pillay taking the cake with timely saves in the tie-breaker.
St. Patrick's centre-half Amit Jadhav gave his team the lead in the 10th minute when he cracked home a Atul Shankar pass.
Vinod Pillay who was outstanding in the forward-line was the best the tourney has seen so far. St. Patrick's joy was short-lived as Vinod finally was rewarded for his hard-work when he scored his team's equaliser in the 25th minute.
In the tie-breaker Vinod, Javed Shaikh and George Aju netted for All Saints, while Atul Shankar and Shantanu Subhash could get past Vinodwho turned up in a new role as agoalkeeper.
In the semi-final Lokmanya Tilak defeated Modern High School 4-3 via the tie-breaker. Centre-forward Sachin Bhondve was the hero of the match as he scored the first hat-trick of the tournament.
Both the teams who had a strong forward-line did well as they walked out of the turf sharing three goals apiece in regular time.
Modern took the lead in the 9th minute through Sachin who sounded the boards with a solo effort. Few minutes later Sachin struck for the second time to make it 2-0.
Lokmanya down by two goals did well to come back into the game through Ashfaq Shaikh. He reduced the margin utalising a cross provided by his right-outer Shailesh Sawant. Later he brought the game onto level terms in the 25th minute.
With the scores leveled Sachin once again stuck to put Modern into the lead and complete his hat-trick in the 28th minute.. However when all was looking safe and sound for Modern, Shailesh Sawant spoilt their premature
celebrations netting Lokmanya's third goal in the an 30th minute.
In the tie-breaker, Gavas Baburao, Sahailesh Sawant, Asif Abdul scored for Lokmanya, while Vishal Gaikwad, Yogesh Dhore missed.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.