For the second year running, Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) was crowned national champion in the shootout, getting past Punjab & Sind Bank (PSB) 3-0 on penalties after the teams were tied 1-1 at the end of regulation time here on Sunday.
The win also marked a hat-trick of titles for the side in the competition, making it one of the most successful domestic teams in recent times.
The performance on field, however, was not up to the mark. Playing below par and missing chances, Railways had the upper hand for long periods but was unable to convert them. It missed three penalty corners, umpteen open goals and lack of support for Affan Yousuf upfront meant all his dodges and passes went waste.
Yuvraj Walmiki ran a solo across the length of the field but could not lift the ball past PSB goalkeeper Guriqbal Singh. Yousuf ran circles around defenders and midfielders to slice past them but found no one upfront to intercept his passes. Nilakanta Sharma kept sending the ball into the circle and kept seeing them pushed wide.
In fact, if not for the brilliant defending of Amit Rohidas, Railways could have been in trouble. Rohidas, who has been impressive all along both in the HIL and national camps, was his usual solid self, attacking to tackle and possess the ball and not allowing the PSB forwards to get through.
PSB, relying more on defensive lapses, finally went ahead through Gaganpreet Singh’s penalty corner in the 15th minute after the hooter had gone for the first quarter but Rohidas levelled three minutes after resumption.
Thereafter, however, it was a battle of attrition and with no team willing to concede space, the game had to go into shootout even though Ajmer Singh had the chance to end the game in regulation time but rolled the ball wide seconds from time.
PSB, which got lucky in the shootout against Air India in the quarterfinals, was unable to get any of its first three shots past Railways goalkeeper Jugraj Singh while Sheshe Gowda, Raju Pal and Nilakanta were all on target to seal the title after Walmiki missed the first shot.
In the hardline match, Punjab struggled to get past Chandigarh 2-1 to finish third despite having a large share of possession and chances. Chandigarh as always relied on counters and defence but Punjab was let down by its vastly experienced attack of Sarvanjit Singh, Gurvinder Singh Chandi and Dharamvir Singh, all former India internationals.
The results (final):
RSPB 1 (Amit Rohidas) bt PSB 1 (Gaganpreet Singh) in shootout; Third-fourth place playoff: Punjab 2 (Baljinder Singh, Sarbjit Singh) bt Chandigarh 1 (Damandeep Singh).
