The win was sweeter for the Byculla boys as they had appeared for their first term exams prior to turning up for the game in the afternoon. Their clash, which was initially scheduled for 7:45 am was postponed to 11:45 am. However they didn’t let the mental fatigue of the two-and-a-half-hours they spent writing their papers affect their performance.

Striker Rayyan Shaikh (15) admitted he was equally worried about the game and his Commercial Application paper on Wednesday, but was happy that both went off smoothly. “For me, both the exam and the match were important. I am glad that we could win the match convincingly,” said the Class X student.

Skipper Ancel Andrew (15), who opened the scoring for the side, which is now fourth on the table with 14 points, too was thrilled with the way his team responded to the challenge. “Most of the players had exams in the morning. We had to reschedule our match because of that. We were under pressure even though it was just the first term exams.”

Ancel, explaining why this match was crucial for them, said, “Last year, we finished sixth, and in order to feature amongst the top three, we need to win our remaining three games.”

Ancel tapped the ball home in the 20th minute to score their first goal and Rayyan extended the lead with a brilliant solo effort in the 40th minute. Meanwhile for Mary’s SSC, Yash Patil scored in the 45th minute.u00a0