Santosh Trophy 2009: Kerala knocked out!

Kerala ‘s run in the in the 63rdNational Football Championship for Santosh Trophy came to an end on Sunday as they lost to a solitary goal to Maharashtra in their Pre quarter final match 1 at Coimbatore. Maharashtra with this victory has now advanced to the quarter final stages.

The lone goal of the match was scored in the 83rd minute by Sampath Kumar Kuttimani. Both the teams played a defensive game in the first half and the game was played mainly in the mid field area and as a result there were hardly any shots taken at the goal.

Both the custodian had hardly any work to do under the bar and were having an off day till the 83rd minute before Maharashtra took lead and sealed the fate of the game in his teams favour.

With first half ending without a goal being scored the start of the second half was no different and both the teams had equal possession and domination of the game. Maharashtra like their previous encounter slowly pulled up their socks just after an hour mark and started attacking at the Kerala goal.

In the 83rd minute Kuttimani got the only chance of the match which he capitalized well to give his team a 1-0 lead. The Kerala defenders were involved in a confusion and utilizing the opportunity well was Kuttimani who headed the ball in after he received a cross from inside the box to dash the hopes of Kerala outfit to make it to the quarter finals.

From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Sunday 31 May 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.