The Hindu : Sport / Football : SBT to meet Viva Kerala in final

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Thursday, Apr 20, 2006

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Sport - Football

SBT to meet Viva Kerala in final

Prinicipal Correspondent

KOZHIKODE: SBT entered the final of the Royal Challenge State football league, beating KSEB 2-0 in an insipid encounter at the Corporation Stadium here on Wednesday.

In the final on Friday, SBT meets Viva Kerala. In the play off for the third place on Thursday, KSEB takes on Travancore Titaniuum.

T. Asif Sahir, who seems to be in excellent nick, and N.P. Pradeep were the scorers for the bankmen, for whom it was a sweet revenge against their arch rival in the all-Thiruvanananthapuram semifinal.

The bankmen had lost to KSEB in the final of the last edition of this tournament held at Thrirssur and again in the final of the State inter-club championship at Manjeri a few weeks ago.

Poor finishing

KSEB made its intentions clear right at the beginning, employing nearly all its players in its own half; it was only after 25 minutes that it could make a decent move into the rival territory. SBT, on the other hand, attacked relentlessly, but was let down by poor finishing.

KSEB was of course living on the edge and it conceded as many eight corners in the first half, but the bankmen couldn't take advantage of even a single one of them.

Asif, however, drew the first blood in the 41st minute, with a peach of a goal, as he came up with a perfect side-volley from inside the box off a cross from Mohammed Rafi, following a free-kick taken by Abdul Noushad near the right flag. The goal must have helped SBT breathe easy at the breather.

KSEB was reduced to ten men for the last half-hour when Vinod was sent off for violent contact. SBT, however, had to wait till the injury time to take advantage of that, as Pradeep headed in the corner kick by Noushad.

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