Nayanar Cup: Kerala XI holds Air India FC 2-2

Kerala XI produced a surprise performance in the opening game of the Fourth EK Nayanar Memorial Gold Cup as they scored late in the second half to share points with their I-League opponents Air India FC who themselves where the surprise package in this season’s I-League. Kerala went ahead through R Kannan, but Prakash Thorat’s brace gave Airmen the lead, only to be cancelled out by a late strike by Kerala defender Anagh.

But what was more surprising than the result was the number of spectators who flocked into the EMS Corporation Stadium, Kozhikode on a Friday evening which was almost half filled for the night. This was when I-League matches played this season at Kochi and Trivandrum failed to pull much crowds into the stadium. The Chirag Kerala management has something to look forward to in the coming season, that is if the club survives relegation and decides against shifting to Kolkata.

Air India went straight into the attack from kick off and hit the post as early as the second minute into the match. It was Ramandeep Singh’s shot that hit the left post and later cleared by the Kerala defence. But Kerala were lucky enough not to concede and took the lead in the 20th minute as R Kannan deceived Air India keeper Harshad Meher from a long lofted ball from the midfield. R Kannan was already a fan favorite having scored four goals in Kerala’s 5-1 thrashing of Jammu and Kashmir in the Santosh Trophy last May.

Air India had a couple of chances to level the scores as their forward Prakash Thorat did well to dribble past the Kerala defenders but hit the ball terribly wide with just the goal keeper to beat. In the injury time of the first half, the visitors hit the woodwork for the second time in the match, this time it was defender Allan Dias with the effort.

Kerala went into the break by leading, but saw their advantage fly away as Air India equalized in the second minute of second period. Prakash after receiving a through pass from Ezeh Henry did well to beat Kerala captain Joby Joseph on goal. After scoring the goal, Air India looked more settled and began passing the ball around the pitch with more comfort practically reducing Kerala players’ jobs on the field to just chase those passes.

They also created opportunities to take the lead as Ezeh Henry squandered two back-to-back chances in the 50th and 51st minutes. First, he hit the shot wide of goal and then again missed the target after he was beautifully found by Prakash in the front of the goal. Air India also had a goal disallowed in the 63rd minute as Prakash Thorat was allegedly fouled Kerala goal keeper before finding the back of the net.

But the Airmen took the lead in the 76th minute Ezeh Henry rounded the goal keeper and crossed the ball into the middle for Prakash to head into an unguarded goal to claim his second of the match. That goal many thought would be the winner of the opening day, but there was time still left for some more drama in this entertaining game. Kerala defender Anagh PK went forward in a desperate attempt to get something out of the game and was successful as he headed a high ball into the goal and restored parity between the sides in the 86th minute.

Both the teams share a point each in Group A now. In the next match involving teams in this group, Air India will face MEG Bangalore on March 11, 2012. On Saturday (March 10, 2012) Mumbai FC will take on Indian Army XI in Group B’s opening match.

Earlier, Makhan Singh, former Indian national team captain, inaugurated the tournament as he recalled that the watch he wears even today was a gift from a football fan from Kozhikode during one of his visits to the city in the 1980s. A Pradeep Kumar, Member of Legislative Assembly and the Kozhikode District Football Association (KDFA) President, AK Premajam, Mayor of Kozhikode, Pannian Ravindran, former Member of Parliament, P Haridas, Secretary of KDFA and several other dignitaries graced the stage.

Kerala XI:
Starting Eleven: Joby Joseph (Goalkeeper, Captain), Surjith VV, Sarath BT, Anagh BK, Askar CV, Mohammed Rasi, Daison Devadas, Rahul P, Sumesh N, Kannan R, Usman P
Substitutes: Noufal N, Nelto Sebastian, Shamil KV, Shibinlal, Nishad K, Nasrudheen C, Frioz
Head Coach: MM Jacob
Team Manager: C Dawood
Physio: Bipin Albert George

Air India FC:
Starting Eleven: Harshad Meher (Goalkeeper), Allan Dias, Premkumar V, Oken Singh, Emmanuel Anoskie, Royston D’souza, Mohammed Shafi, Ezeh Henry (Captain), Prakash Thorat, Sandesh Gadkari, Ramandeep Singh
Substitutes: Pavan Kumar, Bhuvan Chandra Joshi, Satwinder Singh, Takayuki Omi, Federic Endro, Soccor Vetho, Neil Gaikwad
Head Coach: Anthony Fernandez
Team Manager: Joginder Singh Thapa

Adwaidh Rajan writes for FootballKerala.com

From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Saturday 10 March 2012. The database copy of this article was lost; it was recovered in 2026 from the Internet Archive's saved copy of the live page.