Kerala football news

Central Excise thrash SESA Kollam

In a rather one sided match Central Excise crushed SESA Kollam 6-1 to enter the quarterfinals of the 34th Kerala State inter-club football championship at the Corporation Stadium.

Central excise coming from a 9-0 drubbing at hands of Viva Kerala in the semifinals of Navy Cup, put up a fabulous show of attacking football today when they scored from every part of the field to defeat SESA Kollam 6-1.

The game was evenly balanced in the initial stages but things were to change very soon. Central Excise won a freekick in the 11th minute at 30 yards. SESA was expecting an indirect kick and wasn’t interested to form a formidable wall.

2004 Santosh trophy winner for Kerala Sunil MK took the fiery shot which got a vicious swirl, giving the goalkeeper no chance to get to it. A great freekick goal drew a huge applause from the crowd.

SESA got their best chance of the game in the 15th minute when their left back Arun J on an overlap was released by a good through ball from Vijesh, the 1 on 1 chance was saved by the advancing keeper Satheesh. There was very little time for the keeper to recover but the shot from Sulfikar from a close range did not cause him much trouble.

A quick release form the keeper and Central Excise was on a counter attack, Hanson chipped it past the advancing keeper to make it 2-0 for the team from Ernakulam.

Excise kept on playing short pass game with good triangle play in the right wing between the seasoned ones: Hanson, Bijesh Ben and Sunil MK finally releasing Bijesh on the flank. SESA had no answers to the speed of the Kerala State player who steamed past the defence with ease.

Next few minutes saw some similar moves and Bijesh’s low ball in from the wing being cleared by the SESA defence.

In the 25th minute, SESA’s Vijesh was pulled down inside the box and the referee blew the whistle awarding a penalty for SESA. Noushad P was lucky not to go into the book for the stupidity, which got SESA a chance back into the game. And, Premkumar NT had no problems to convert it from the spot.

SESA’s chances of an equaliser never looked possible as Excise dominated the proceeding from here on. Their three key players combined well and kept creating chances after chances.

In the 40th minute, SESA center back Harikumar was sent off for a tackle from behind. Going down to ten men was the worst SESA could have hoped for.

Coming to the end of the half, Central Excise added one more to the tally through Coach MM Jacob’s son Sanju Jacob.

Second half was all Central Excise. SESA down to 10 men looked to be worn out. With the lead looking good, Hanson was pulled out in the 52′.

Sunil MK was taken off few minutes later after a great performance. His ball control, vision and passing were unmatched.

63rd minute saw Bijesh Ben breaking free again and lashing a shot at the goal. The powerful low drive couldn’t be stopped by the keeper. This was just a beginning as he was again released by a good triangle play Bijesh to Jibin, flicked on to Arun who gave a through pass to Bijesh who kept running. Bijesh showed deft touch to take the ball through two defenders with a flick outside of the boot and using his space to get into box. Two goals in a span of 3 minutes.

The very next minute, Bijesh broke again. He went through the first defender and was taking on the second but lost out the ball. In the urge to get the hat-trick he went behind the defender pulling him down earning a yellow card.

But this did not stop him few minutes later as he got the goal he wanted and the scoreline read 6-1. SESA players showed signs of fatigue but Central Excise was brutal and never let any chance go.

Bijesh Ben was taken off as soon as he completed his hat-trick by smashing 3 goals in 7 minutes.

Sanju Jacob was awarded Man of the Match

Final Score: SESA Kollam 1 – 6 Central Excise

GOALS

SESA Kollam
Prem Kumar NT(Pen) 25′

Central Excise
Sunil MK 11′
Hanson 17′
Sanju Jacob 44′
Bijesh 63′, 65′, 68′

Man of the match: Sanju ( Central Excise)

Squad List

Central Excise
Satheesh KS, Binoy KK, Naushad P, Bijesh Ben, Inist MJ, Raneesh Rahim, Hanson CC, Arun Balakrishnan, Safal P Pillai.

SESA Kollam
Tinu Thomas(GK), Arun J Abraham, Hari Kumar, Prem Kumar NT, Jishad, Vijeesh, Sahir, M Mohan, Sulfikar, Shabin Sha, Shanavas Khan.