The Hindu : Sport / Football : SBT opens its campaign in style

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Thursday, Apr 13, 2006

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Sport - Football

SBT opens its campaign in style

Principal Correspondent

KOZHIKODE: State Bank of Travancore (SBT) opened its account in the Royal Challenge State football league in style, sinking a clueless Cochin Port Trust 5-1 at the Corporation Stadium here on Wednesday.

The match was as one-sided as one could get at this level. If the men from Kochi managed to avoid a whitewash that was because they were able to convert what was about the only decent chance they got to score. Suneer's header, following a corner kick by Nazeer, was in fact the equaliser for Port Trust, coming in the 53rd minute.

Mohammed Rafi, one of the quickest men in Indian football at the moment, had put the bankmen ahead in the13th minute, after being fed by Mohammed Harris down the right. They could have scored at least three more goals in the first half, but poor finishing let them down. However, the unexpected goal they conceded early in the second half woke them up from their slumber; within the next 18 moves, they pumped in four.

The floodgates were opened by the gifted T. Asif Sahir, who beat a couple of defenders and the goal-keeper after receiving a neat pass from Martin John on the right flank. That was in the 55th minute. Five minutes later, Martin himself made it 3-1,finishing off a fine move down the right created in tandem by Asif and V. Sivakumar. Then Paul Antony, in the very next minute, and K.M. Abdul Noushad (71st) also joined the party.

Easy for Golden Wheel CC

Golden Wheel CC defeated Rising Star CC by 23 runs in the Canara Bank-TDCA `D' division cricket league in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday. In a low scoring encounter, Rising Star was bundled out for 80 runs in 18 overs while chasing 104 for a victory.

The scores: Golden Wheel CC 103 in 18 overs (Biju six for 40) bt Rising Star CC 80 in 17.2 overs (Shanavas four for 10).

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