FARIDABAD: A fatal moment of complacency in the final minute enabled Bengal stun Services 1-0 and storm into the quarterfinals of the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy here on Thursday.

At the Sector 12 Sports Complex, Vimal Pariyar's opportunistic strike in extra time sealed the contest. It was a chaotic end to a mediocre match that exposed the shortcomings of the two top teams in the competition.

Services contested the decision, claiming that Pariyar had scored from an offside position. "It was blatant," protested Services coach Stanley Rozario.

"The linesman (S. K. Singh) was positioned poorly. He almost lifted the flag and then changed his mind. We had no time to recover. It was a horrible decision," the disappointed coach added.

However, Bengal had no complaints and coach Prasanta Banerjee was delighted with the result. His assistant, Tanumoy Bose extended his sympathy to the rival camp. "Unfortunate, but well played," he said.

"This result means a lot. We arrived here with little hope of qualifying. The boys showed amazing resilience. It was a tough match. We had our little problems but I was always confident," said Banerjee.

Player of the day

Without doubt Pariyar was the star of the day. A remarkably gifted player, his positive approach was the key as Bengal capitalised on the half-chance that came its way.

A sudden counter-attack left the nippy Lalhmangaih Zuala exploring the right flank. Surrounded by three defenders, he curled a hopeful cross in search of a lurking Pariyar.

The defenders stood still waiting for the linesman to raise his flag. He did not, and Pariyar continued his crafty run.

Anil Kumar, the substitute goalkeeper who was brought in to tackle the penalty shootout, was woefully out of position and Pariyar slotted the ball home.

For Services, the defeat meant an early exit, especially after having looked the better side.

Nandy saves

It almost clinched the issue minutes before the final whistle but Bengal goalkeeper Sandip Nandy stretched himself fully to punch the stinging goal-bound long-ranger from the lanky A. Thirunavakarsu.

In the other pre-quarterfinal at Gurgaon, Haryana defeated Meghalaya by a solitary goal. Pradeep Kumar scored the winner the 88th minute.

Friday's fixtures: At Faridabad: Delhi v Jammu & Kashmir, Orissa v Railways; At Gurgaon: Manipur v Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh v Andhra Pradesh.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail