Hosts Kerala bounced back from a goal, beating heavyweights Bengal 5-4 in the penalty shootout, winning their seventh Santosh Trophy title at Manjeri Payyanad football stadium in Malappuram on Monday. Playing in front of a packed home crowd with an official attendance of 26,857, Bino George Chiramal coached Kerala failed to break through the Bengal defences, captained brilliantly by veteran goalkeeper Priyant Kumar Singh in regular time. Aiming to avenge their last defeat at home in 2016-17, the record-breaking 32-time champion continued in extra time with a sensational header from Dilip Orawn (97th), brilliantly set up by Supriya Pandit from the left. But the Bengal defence, captained by captain Monotosh Chakladar, collapsed in the final four minutes of extra time in what was a repeat of Bengal’s goal.
Just as the crowd turned hostile and started throwing bottles from the stands, it was Bibin Ajayan who scored the equalizing goal with a jumping header after being deployed from the right flank by Noufal PN to force a penalty streak.
Bengal started the penalty shootout with Dilip Orawn’s shot, but in their second attempt, Sajal Bag went wide, which was decisive.
Bablu Ora, Tanmoy Ghosh and goalkeeper Priyant capitalized on their chances and left the big job to substitute Raja Burman in the last attempt to deprive Kerala of the winning penalty.
Burman tried his best, but Faslurahman Methukayil sealed it by firing the ball into the top corner to take their first Santosh Trophy on home soil since 1993 (Kochi).
So, after beating Bengal 2-0 in the group stage, Kerala put in a double on Ranjan Bhattacharya coached side.
It was a contrasting tale of two halves with Bengal dominating the first 45 minutes while Kerala came close several times after the switch.
Thanks to a brave display under the bar by their keeper Priyant Kumar Singh, Bengalis kept their hopes alive to take home the Trophy.
Priyant’s best save came in the 33rd minute when he parried a brilliant attack from Viknesh M to keep the clean sheet.
Two minutes later, Priyant was back in the center of the action, this time denying Sanju G.
promoted
Bengal striker Molla had an unforgettable performance and lost a few chances in the first half.
The hosts pushed hard in the second half with tournament top scorer Jijo Joseph and Vikensh making a wave of attacks but the Bangladesh defense refused all their efforts when the scoreless stalemate prevailed in regulation time.
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