The Hindu : Sport / Football : Indian Bank in final

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Tuesday, Jul 24, 2007
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Indian Bank in final

Sports Reporter

— Photo: V. Ganesan

TOUGH CONTEST: Indian Bank’s Karthikeyan (left) and State Bank of India’s Vijay Sarathi fight it out in the Vittal Trophy.

CHENNAI: Indian Bank will be keen to clinch its third Vittal Trophy football title when it takes on Sports Authority of India in the summit clash on Wednesday. After its facile 2-0 win over State Bank of India in the semifinals at the Nehru Stadium here on Monday, IB, no doubt, will be the hands down favourite, SAI’s youthful spirit notwithstanding.

For all its strength, IB found it difficult to pierce the SBI defence. Auxiano, Javed and Santha Kumar were short on ideas to create an opening.

It was a needless infringement, which helped IB open the account. When the first session was about to end, SBI Sudhakar pulled down Santha Kumar that warranted referee Senthil Kumar to show the spot. He did it without much delay and Auxiano scored the penalty.

Even as IB went about its task in a methodical fashion, SBI could hardly conjure a move of its own. Sabeeth waged a lone battle without proper support from the other end. His best effort came midway in the second half; a shot from 10 yards that went over the crosspiece.

Strengthening its wings

IB began to strengthen its wings and it showed in the game. With Nirmal Kumar at the right and Santha at the left, IB created confusion in SBI ranks. The second goal appeared to be a soft one.

Karthikeyan’s (Sr) 20-yard right-footer seemed harmless but the ball went straight through goalkeeper Sharath’s hands.

For Sharath, who put up a relatively good show in the tournament, this would have surely been an embarrassment.

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