The Hindu : Sport / Football : Antos is Karnataka’s hero

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Antos is Karnataka’s hero

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI: Antos scored off a penalty in the 86th minute to help Karnataka beat Maharashtra 1-0 and win the 32nd National sub-junior football (West and South Zones) tournament here.

Both finalists advanced to the inter-zonals at Haryana where they will be joined by qualifiers from the North and East Zones.

The match-winner came when central defender Nadeem Khan was penalised for a handball.

The Karnataka striker coolly stepped up to take the penalty kick and placed the ball home.

Henthoiba and Nadeem were later named best players from their respective teams in the under-15 tournament.

Maharashtra fielded Egypsio Noronha and Curtis Nazareth in the final, two players against whom Goa had lodged a written protest with match commissioner Vinod Kumar on Tuesday for being overage.

Egypsio waged a lone battle upfront, while Nazareth made no impact on the flank against a physically stronger and technically superior Karnataka team.

Robust approach

Karnataka’s robust approach and ability to find space to move the ball around forced the home team to be at the receiving end almost throughout the final.

Shivram forced a quick save from Maharashtra custodian M Prajapati with a feint past one defender followed by a snap shot.

Stylish passes

The Karnataka captain continued to torment the opponent with quick surges down the left while Henthoiba prodded the attack with stylish left-footed passes.

Tong Mong created a scare in the Maharashtra goalmouth with a forward slide to connect the ball coming over the defence. The deflection, however, went wide.

Maharashtra managed just two raids in the match. A snap attempt by Nipun Chauhan was kept away by Karnataka goalkeeper Prabhakar on the goalline.

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