Big (Kee) gan takes Bishop’s into final

B D Narayankar

bapun@sakalherald.com

PUNE: Deadly Keegan Bast scored all four goals in first half of the match to fashion Bishop’s 4-1 win over Vidya Bhavan in the semi-finals of U-14 Bishop’s Invitational Football Tournament at Jeejeebhoy Ground here on Tuesday.

Having not played Vidya Bhavan before, Bishop’s weaved a defensive 3-1-3-3 pattern in initial stages. They changed the gear in third minute after studying their rival’s meek defence. They fielded 4-1-3-3 pattern for rest of the match with great aplomb.

An out-of-sorts display by Vidya Bhavan defenders allowed Bishop’s to dominate and devise explosive attacks from Arthur Vieyra and Keegan Bast that sent a half-full ground into a tizzy.

The Blues puffed up the net for the first time in 4th minute when Keegan put them ahead with a delectable tap to the left side of goalkeeper Jatin Chavan after he grabbed the ball on a missed clearance from a Vidya Bhavan defender. But for a wonderful save from Jatin, Keegan would have made it 2-0 in 13th minute.

He, however, broke Vidya Bhavan’s resolve for the second time in 15th minute when he drove a shot into the net after skillfully dodging three rival defenders.

He added a third (hat-trick), a minute after when he ran into the box on a delightful through from Arthur Vieyra before deflecting the ball past keeper Jatin.

In 26th minute, Vidya Bhavan had their best chance to reduce the margin. Nishit Hegde failed to latch on to Allan Coutinho’s aerial shot from the right flank.

Keegan slotted home for the fourth time for Bishop’s in 29th minute after stealing the ball from Vidya Bhavan defenders.

Leading 4-0 in the first half, Bishop’s casual approach saw them not scoring a single goal in the second half. Though they had chances here and there, they failed to set up a score. Smelling an opportunity, Vidya Bhavan galvanised themselves and powered in their first and the only goal in 36th minute through Nikhil Verghese’s header.

In yet another semi-finals, St Vincent’s crushed JN Petit 2-0. Samarth Salvi and Yashraj Savase fired first and second goals in 9th and 14th minute of the match respectively.

In U-12 semi-final matches, Vidya Bhavan trounced SSPMS 3-1 and JN Petit beat ENNS (B) 2-0.

RESULTS: U-14: Semi-finals: Bishop’s (Camp) 4 (Keegan Bast) bt Vidya Bhavan 1 (Nikhil Verghese); St Vincent’s 2 (Samarth Salvi, Yashraj Savase) bt JN Petil 0; U-12: Semi-finals: Vidya Bhavan 3 (Angad Gill, Jordan Fernandes, Satyajit Saste) bt SSPMS 1 (Mahesh Gaikwad); JN Petit 2 (Ibrahim Shaikh, Kaizad Pilchar) bt ENNS (B) 0.

Photo: Keegan chests the ball to break into Vidya Bhavan citadel. (Mukund Bhute)