*Yes Kerala has been knocked out from Santhosh Trophy 2009 losing to Maharashtra. We have read in reports about what the scoreline was and how the goal was scored. But here is a report from someone who watched the entire match. Krishnan PC reports the way he saw how the match went on*
Kuttimani Sampathkumar’s controversial goal was the only thing that separated the two teams , as he was the quickest in sending home the rebound off goalkeeper Navas.
Kerala had little opportunities to grasp in the first half, with Bineesh Balan producing a fine save from the Maharashtra goalkeeper.
Though Kerala enjoyed much of the possession in the first half with Sushanth Mathews and captian Pradeep delivering some fine balls which unfortunately the Keralites could direct towards the goal area.
Even if Maharashtra contained the Kerala attack through the flanks , Dhanarajan and Martin John could manage a few bursts into the attacking area in vain producing no end-product.
Maharashtra lacked supremacy that the scoreline depicts ,shooting aimlessly several times, though they were looking to be scoring on couple of occasions earlier , when the uncertainty in the Kerala goalkeeper caused much problems from the Maharashtra widemen only to Dhanarajan and the 34-year old Jaseer Karnath to defend as the last resort .
But when both the teams needed to find inspiration in the second half, all that was on offer was an increase in the Maharashtra dominance but still they failed to exert any serious pressure on Kerala.
The only decisive move of the game was when Steven Dias moved on the right flank explosively and delivered a fine cross to produce a penalty area scramble. Parvesh Shilvalkar quickly trapped the ball and shot home to produce a rebound which, Kuttimany succeeded in booting the ball home smashing the Kerala hopes of surviving in the competition.
For now, though, Kerala can only try and digest the disappointment of conceding the goal - and accept that the non-cagey defence, not the referees decision, was the reason of their own downfall.
Adding to the miseries of the Kerala fans was the riot between S.Diaz and Martin John , which the referee interfered to give away a yellow card which could have been an immediate dismissal.
Kerala responded well after conceding the goal with Martin Jon producing some fine turns and Bineesh Balan working very hard to equalize the scoreline.
But the physical presence of the Maharastra defence was too much for the Kerala attackers as they failed finish off the game..
Kerala’s failure to capitalize their experience in midfield using Susanth Mathews and NP Pradeep was counted as one of the defects that the heart-broken fans pointed out after the game., along with the Coach’s reluctance to bring in a fresh leg until the late of the ninety minutes only after a Kerala player sustaining an injury.
He was taken off to the PSG medical college soon after the game.
The jubilant fans would have been happy to head home with the victory as more than thousands showed their support for Bineesh and Dhanarajan in special.
Maharashtra's time wasting play and over emphasizing of silly fouls was the catalyst for predictable tears and swears among travelling Kerala supporters.
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Tuesday 2 June 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.
Comments · 2
What do you expect from a full bunch of fresh players against a team like Maharashtra who got good and experienced players, that also in a knock out match? Kerala should have made some changes in the defence which I felt was not in form.
It was real luck for Bengal to score an equalizer at the last moment.