It was men against boys when the BITS boys’ football team took on GSB’s team in the second match of the day. The BITS team cruised to a 9-0 victory with their 4-4-2 formation helping them retain over 90% possession. The match, scheduled to start at eight in the morning was delayed by forty minutes.
GSB were clumsy in possession from the beginning while BITS were ready to capitalize on their every mistake. The first goal came in the third minute when GSB’s entire back line was defeated by a lobbed pass which fell perfectly for striker Tanay to finish with a half-volley. Successive goals by right winger Puranjay in the fifth and seventh minutes and a goal by captain Siddharth soon after saw BITS take a four-goal lead by the tenth minute. GSB, who were unable to retain possession for more than ten seconds at a time, showed no sign of recovering from their nightmarish start. Puranjay completed his first half hat-trick in the thirteenth minute with an excellent headed effort. Two more goals by Kush and Tanay pushed the score to 7-0 at half time.
The second half saw BITS play less ruthlessly, though keeping possession with their passing. The first and only substitution of the game came when Dhaivata came on for Tanay. With BITS cruising to victory, the substitution was nothing more than an effort to conserve strength for future matches. The substitution had immediate effect as Dhaivata’s corner in the 35th minute found centre-back Manik at the near post, whose glancing header was tapped in by Puranjay at the far post. The final nail in the coffin came in the 36th minute when Abhishek slotted home after getting at the end of a good through ball by Siddharth.
“Today’s game went better than we expected it to. We need to keep our heads down and focus on the matches to come”, said a visibly satisfied Siddharth after the game.