Ashwin drops anchor for Podar international

AHMEDABAD: Poddar International skipper Ashwin Sapre's brilliance was so overbearing that he not only led the team from the front but made all the difference in the field as they defeated HB Kapadia Memnagar 3-1 in a closely fought encounter.
Ashwin made his presence felt with a beautiful free kick which struck the crossbar and bounced back to play. Right-out Dhiraj Meena pounced on the rebound to give Poddar the lead in the 4th minute.
Three minutes later Ashwin himself scored from a free kick with a beauty. He curved it from outside the wall and went for the second post. The goalkeeper, blinded by the wall, couldn't do much as the ball swung in and went past his outstretched hands even as he dived full length in vain.
Ashwin was again on target with a long ranger in the 28th minute to kill any chance of a contest. This time scoring off a through ball from the back.
The HB boys tried their best but lacked co-ordination and despite their height advantage failed miserably to pierce the Poddar defence. With both teams tiring towards the end, Omik Desai pulled one back for HB in the 38th minute but it was too little too late in the match.
In some other matches, Nalanda International School Vadodara drubbed Our Own English Medium School Prantij 7-1, Nirman High School Ahmedabad got past MGIS 2-0 and St Xavier's Loyola won their first match in three years defeating BAPS Swami Narayan Vidyamandir Gandhinagar 7-6 in sudden death penalty after the match was locked 1-1 after regulation time. Interestingly, last year Xavier's lost to Divine Child Mehsana 5-3 on penalties.