MEG Bangalore crushed Travancore Titanium 5-2 in a Pool ‘A’ quarterfinal league match of the G.V. Raja all-India football tournament at the University stadium here on Tuesday.
MEG ended its campaign in the tournament on a winning note and kept its semifinal hopes alive. However, the progress of Bangalore side and that of Titanium will depend on the outcome of the last league match between Titanium and Sesa Goa.
Titanium will have to beat Sesa by a big margin but considering the dismal show of the home side it looks highly unlikely. Sesa, which beat MEG 3-1 in the opening match, needs only a draw to qualify.
A three goal blitz in space of six minutes in the second half by the Bangalore side killed the contest after Titanium had drawn level in the 48th minute.
Lokeshwar Singh, who struck a brace (58th & 61st), Ngurneilal Hamar (55th) and Ramu (75th) scored in the second half for the Bangalore side after Vineeth had put it ahead in the 37th minute. Abdul Hameed, who netted the equaliser in the 48th minute and Ebin Rose (70th) were the scorers for Titanium.
Titanium’s goalkeeper Joby Joseph will have to take a lot of blame for his side’s defeat. The goalkeeper’s errors resulted in at least two MEG goals. The goalkeeper’s propensity to stray out of his line made him a sitting duck against speedy MEG forwards.
The first MEG goal was an absolute gift from Joby. When Siyad floated in a 40-yard free kick, Joby rushed out to collect the ball but only managed to chest it into the path of Vineeth, who gleefully slotted the ball into the open goal.
Titanium had managed to stay afloat till that. Titanium equalised at the start of the second half through Hameed.
But the joy quickly died down as Titanium brought its own downfall through sloppy defending and Joby’s errors.
Source: The Hindu
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Thursday 4 February 2010, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.