In a keenly contested match Services defeated Karnataka by a solitary goal in the Group B quarter final match to set up a semi final clash with West Bengal in semis scheduled to be played on Wednesday, of the 63rd National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy, at Nehru Statium, Chennai, on Sunday. The other semi-final will witness hosts Tamil Nadu coming face to face with Goa on Thursday.
Services started the game on an attacking note got two chances early on but Shaji D Silva shot over the post on both occasions. In the6th minute Services had the best chance of the match to score but Shaji on a one-on situation with Karnataka custodian Gumpe Rime chipped the ball over the bar after her received the cross from Mahesh Rai.
Services were better off the two as they had better ball possession and completely dominated the game. In the 26th minute Raleng was brought down by Naveen Babu inside the box and were awarded a penalty. Laldingliana converted from the spot kick to give Services a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute.
Five minutes later Shaji shot deflected off Gumpe but an on rushing Raleng shot found the cross bar and Karnataka defenders cleared it to safety.
Karnataka tried hard to score the equalizer but their strikers were completely off color and they failed to capitalize of the chances that came their way as the match entered into the lemon break with Services leading 1-0.
The start of the second half had Karnataka pulling up their socks playing a composed game. As compared to the first half they played with short passes and created more chances.
In the 54th minute Services found the back of the net but were unlucky as the goal was disallowed as Sajith was found guilty of handling the ball after Raleng’s shot hit the far post and rebounded.
Twenty minutes later Karnataka were awarded a free kick just outside the box as M Dileep handled the ball but they wasted the opportunity. In next six minutes Karnataka had four chances coming their way but Dada Nabeel and Xavier Vijaya Kumar either missed the target or shot straight into the hands of the Services custodian Sujan Suku.
In the 88th minute Karnataka had the chance to score the equalizer but Xavier Vijaya Kumar missed the golden opportunity as he failed to get the ball past Services custodian Sujan Suku.
Source: the-aiff.com
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Monday 8 June 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.