Such was the case with Cathedral and John Connon (Fort), for whom Daryush Kapadia scored a hat-trick in his team's 3-0 win over Arya Vidya Mandir (Juhu) in their Division II third-place encounter at the Azad Maidan on Monday.
Despite not making the final of the Mumbai School Sports Association-held football tournaments, motivation for sides playing the third-place matches are always high.
Such was the case with Cathedral and John Connon (Fort), for whom Daryush Kapadia scored a hat-trick in his team's 3-0 win over Arya Vidya Mandir (Juhu) in their Division II third-place encounter at the Azad Maidan on Monday.
With the season more or less over for Kapadia and his side, the 14-year-old said that he wanted to start his New Year on the right note. "It's Parsi New Year on Tuesday, a big day for me and my family. I wanted to start the New Year with a positive mindset and this hat-trick, even though it was in a third-place tie, means a lot to me," said the Class 10 student, who is also a rugby player having represented the Bombay Gymkhana rugby team in the Bombay Cup and Pune Cup.
Kapadia gave his team the perfect start as they raced to a three-goal lead by the 18th minute. His second goal, his fourth of the tournament, was a delightful chip that went well over the goalkeeper who was way ahead of his line.
"With the way we played on Monday, we should be playing the final. It just wasn't our day when we lost 0-1 to Hansraj Moraji (Andheri). We'd have preferred to have played the final. That said, we just did not want to turn up for the third-place playoff and make up the numbers. We wanted to win as finishing third is far better than ending fourth," added Kapadia.
Stopwatch (third-place playoff):
Division II: Cathedral & John Connon (Fort) 3 (D Kapadia 3) bt Arya Vidya Mandir (Juhu) 0; Division I: St Francis D'Assisi 'A' Borivli 2 (K Shah, D Shah 1) bt St Lawrence (Kandivli) 0
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