In a keenly contested battle Services scored a lone goal victory over Maharashtra in the quarter final league match of the 63rd National football championship for Santosh Trophy on Wednesday.
The only goal of the match was scored in the 12th minute through penalty. Both the teams started the game on an attacking note and shots were taken at regular intervals on both sides.
It was in the 10th minute Shaji A D’Silva was brought down inside the box by Anas Edathodika Mohammed Kutty and immediately referee Pradip Kumar awarded Services with a penalty. Laldingliana capitalized on the situation well and scored from the spot kick to give his team a 1-0 lead.
As the match progressed Maharashtra started settling down and their flanks started creating chances for their strikers but they failed to convert the chances that came their way.
In the 33rd minute Steven Dias crossed the ball inside the box but Alex Ambrose was late and Services custodian Robikanta Singh punched it to safety. With not much of action happening in the first half the match entered into the lemon break with Services leading 1-0.
The start of the second half had Maharashtra dominating and putting pressure on Services defenders but their strikers were not effective to get the ball past Robikanta Singh.
In the 65th minute Steven Dias shot from left flank was well punched by Robikanta to safety. With time passing by Maharashtra kept on attacking at the Services net but most of their shots were off target or were not powerful enough to pose any threat for Services.
Ten minutes later Services were unlucky as Shaji tapped the ball over Arup Debnath but the ball was off target. Maharashtra tried hard but they failed to score the equalizer as Services opened their Santosh Trophy campaign with a win to pocket three points.
Source: the-aiff.com
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Wednesday 3 June 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.