The Hindu : Sport / Football : Services beats Kerala

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Services beats Kerala

Amitabha Das Sharma

SRINAGAR: S. Raleng’s hat-trick saw Services brighten its semifinal prospects by defeating a 10-man Kerala 3-0 in a Group A quarterfinal league match in the 62nd edition of the senior National football championship for the Santosh Trophy at Bakshi Stadium here on Saturday.

Netting six points from two wins — the previous one was 2-1 win over Punjab — Services has consolidated its position almost ensuring itself a semifinal berth.

The other match of the same group between host Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab was abandoned owing to crowd trouble. The match was 68 minutes old and Punjab was leading 1-0 before the trouble erupted in the galleries forcing the referee Rizwan-ul-Haq to stop the match.

Kerala paid the price for a mistake by its midfielder Rahul P. The player, having already booked once for a hard challenge in the 11th minute, ended up committing a rash tackle again seven minutes later, which earned him a red-card.

Kerala coach Victor Manjila pulled back one of the most experienced players of the team Ahsif Saheer — a striker — to fill up the vacant spot in the Kerala’s central half-line.

The Southern powerhouse held off the indefatigable Services attackers, who showed unfailing energy making relentless attacks, till mid-way into the second session.

Looking to take the pressure of its defence, Kerala tried to attack on the breaks. But the ploy remained unsuccessful as its lone man in the attack Naushad O.K. could not make much out of the few chances coming up his way.

As Services increased its men attacking, the Kerala defence cracked in the 66th minute when Raleng found the target nodding home a freekick by centre-half Gordon.

The next 19 minutes saw more Services attacks and two more goals with Raleng finding the target in the 74th and 85th minutes to net the team’s second hat-trick.

His colleague up front Shaji D’Silva had scored one in Services’ 5-0 win against Tamil Nadu in the pre-quarterfinals.

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