The Hindu : Sport : Assam shunts out Railways

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 09, 2005

Sport

Sport

Assam shunts out Railways

P.K. Ajith Kumar

Uttar Pradesh also books ticket to Kochi for final phase

— Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

ACROBATIC: Madhya Pradesh's Tai Juna comes up with a spectacular effort to get the ball from Uttar Pradesh's Amit Singh in their Cluster I clash on Tuesday.

KOZHIKODE : Assam booked a berth to Kochi on Tuesday and issued a return ticket to Railways. The young team from North East did that in some style, by scoring a 2-1 win over a side which badly missed the services of the suspended main striker Ashim Biswas, in the most crucial Cluster IV match in the Santosh Trophy National football championship at the Corporation Stadium.

Also joining Assam in the main phase of the tourney, which kicks off at Kochi on Friday, is Uttar Pradesh from Cluster I, following its 2-1 win over Madhya Pradesh 2-1 in a match that was damp in more ways than one. In the other game, a dead rubber if ever there was one, Chhattisgarh blanked Pondicherry 3-1 in Cluster IV.

Fine weather

The Assam-Railways game was played in the finest weather of the competition so far. The early-morning sun brought the best out of the two sides as the ball travelled the entire breadth of the field, something of a rarity in this tournament dogged by one-sided matches. While even a draw was more than enough for Assam to prolong its stay in `God's Own Country', it was a must-win situation for its rival.

Railways nearly took an early lead when R.P. Ashok Kumar, who had the difficult task of stepping into Ashim's boots, came up with a scorching long-ranger that was punched away by the Assamese custodian Belifung Narzary.

Five minutes later, a fine save was witnessed under the bar on the other side of the ground, as Sangram Mukherjee stopped a powerful carpet drive from David Gayari. Assam went ahead with five minutes left for the interval when skipper Sanjeeva Rongpi made good use of defensive error to slot the ball in from well inside the box, after being fed by the hard-working Rahazuddin Ahmed.

Penalties and rewards

Railways equalised though 10 minutes into the second half, as Kasif Jamal made no mistake with a penalty kick awarded for a foul on Ashok Kumar by Thong Thang Kom.

In the 63rd minute Assam also got a penalty when the Railway custodian Sangram exceeded his brief while trying to stop substitute Thomson Langthasa from scoring. Rongpi put Assam ahead.

U.P.'s Bhovan Joshi struck in the 67th and 84th minutes against M.P. and for his second goal, he received considerable help from the rival defender Avinash Thapa's head.

Anuj Pratap Singh pulled one back for in the injury time of second half, which was played entirely in strong rain.

The weather was just fine when Anas gave for Pondicherry an unlikely lead against Chhattisgarh in the 24th minute. Chhattisgarh hit back through Kulwant Singh (40th and 43rd) and Krishna Naidu (90th).

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