Double joy for lads of St Joseph's

Seniors skittle Germains; Juniors too good for FAPS

The title was doubly sweet as earlier in the day, St Joseph’s had defeated Frank Anthony Public School 2-0 to lift the Eric Waz Memorial title for juniors’ with goals from Achinthya Harsha (13th) and Muthappa MK (27th).

In the senior final, Vaibhav found the net in the 4th, 27th, 48th and 58th minutes while the other goal came from Nicholas in the 55th. The consolation goal for St Germain was scored by Akansh N in the 12th minute.

Even before the match started, the atmosphere created by Josephites and the brave few Germain students was electrifying. On the field though, it was all business, especially for the St Joseph’s lads.

St Joseph’s were on the attack from the outset, earning them a penalty corner two minutes in but the shot taken by Pranayu went wide. The second penalty corner came their way three minutes later and this time Joseph’s made no mistake. Vaibhav cooly slotted in the ball, taken by Pranayu, after a deflection from a rival defender, 1-0 for Josephites.

The goal seemed to wake Germain boys up, with them gradually finding their feet. After multiple forays into the box Germain earned a penalty corner, paving the way for the equaliser.

Akansh, the best player on the pitch for Germain, finding the net with a fine finish.
Joseph’s went ahead again through some neat individual play from Vaibhav. The forward cut in from the right and took a shot, beating the custodian’s attempt.

The scoreline remained intact well into the second half. With Germain desperately trying to find the equaliser, there was a lot of space for Joseph’s to exploit.

Pranayu, breaking through from the middle and fed Vaibhav who completed the goal and hat-trick nervelessly in the 48th minute. Vaibhav then transformed into creator, making a nice run down the right and crossing for Nicholas who made no mistake.

A blistering counter-attack resulted in the fifth goal, completing the rout. Vaibhav had little to do other than a casual tap-in after Prathap fed him a neat pass.