The Hindu : Sport / Football : Viva Kerala wins a thriller

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Thursday, May 03, 2007
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Viva Kerala wins a thriller

Principal Correspondent

KOZHIKODE: After three one-sided matches, the Western Union State football league finally threw up a real contest on Wednesday. And what a contest it turned out to be as Viva Kerala, riding on a Baba Tunde hat-trick, beat Travancore Titanium 4-3 at the Corporation Stadium.

Titanium will look back at this match with regret, as it was leading 3-2 going into the last 10 minutes. In fact, the Thiruvananthapuram team had led 1-0 and 2-1.

Surprise move

Ebin Rose drew first blood in the second minute, after being fed by Cleetus. But the Kochi side found the equaliser 12 minutes later on a counter-attack through Baba, who made a swift run down the centre, after receiving a long ball from captain R. Dhanarajan, that caught the rival defence by surprise.

In the 27th minute, Titanium went 2-1up, thanks to the individual brilliance of Cleetus, who dribbled past a couple of Viva defenders in his solo run down the left.

Viva drew level four mintues before the interval, as Firoz Kalathingal drove home an excellent square pass from the right flank by Baba.

In the 54th minute, Ebin again put Titanium ahead with his fifth goal of the tournament. Just when that goal began to look like the winner, Baba struck in the 82nd and 88th minutes to save Viva, which had qualified for the NFL first division at this very venue less than a month ago, from embarrassment.

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