The Hindu : Sport / Football : Raju scores match-winner

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 06, 2005

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Sport - Football

Raju scores match-winner

Sports Reporter

TIRUCHI: D. Raju's strike in the 38th minute took Karnataka to a 1-0 win over Kerala in the last league match of the South Zone phase and helped the team qualify for the final round (inter-zone) of the National under-21 football championship, conducted by Tiruchi DFA at St. Joseph's College HSS, here on Sunday.

Requiring just a draw to make the grade, Karnataka did not show any complacency and as suggested by coach Mastan Ahmed and manager Aslam Khan played positively.

Dominating the first half, the Karnataka strikers showed exemplary ball sense and opportunism. Raju, Arivind and Sanath Kumar kept the Kerala defence on tenterhooks and after several attempts by Sanath and Arivind, Raju finally struck.

Taking a pass from captain Joseph Daniel, Raju, who plays for HAL in the NFL second division, rushed past three defenders from the left flank and his right-footer from close range was on target.

In fact, in the first 10 minutes it was Kerala which looked like scoring even as heavy winds and a steady drizzle threatened to stop the match.

Coming alive

The Kerala strikers came alive in the second half and made repeated raids. With Javeed as the feeder and Rinil and Sajan supporting him, the Karnataka defence was kept on high alert always. Javeed's passes from the right flank were on the mark and a goal looked imminent.

One such superb cross from Javeed saw Sajan completely miss the ball though he was within hand-shaking distance from Karnataka custodian A. Suresh. Karnataka was reduced to 10 men after Shankar was shown the red card.

"We lacked a good striker who could score," was how Kerala coach, P.K. Rajeev Rev, put it after the match.

Tamil Nadu takes on Delhi in a final round encounter on June 7.

Fr. S. Rajarathinam, Principal, St. Joseph's College, gave away the prizes. R. Palaniappan, President, Tiruchi DFA, was the guest of honour.

Points table: Karnataka 3-3-0-15-1-9; Kerala 3-2-1-14-3-6; Pondicherry 3-1-2-3-10-3; Andhra Pradesh 3-0-3-1-19-0 (read as played, won, lost, goals for, goals against and points).

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