YUPIA (ARUNACHAL): P.P. Shafeel scored with a spectacular pile-driver to help Services beat a strong Goa by a solitary goal in the final to lift the Santosh Trophy for the seventh time in the history of the premier inter-state senior men’s football competition.
Goa, the pre-final favourite, could not rise up to expectations as Services latched on to Shafeel’s 67th-minute strike and successfully preserved the lead till the end.
The opening session at the Golden Jubilee Stadium ended goalless as the attackers failed to find the desired touch at both ends. There was no dearth of action though as both sides adopted an open approach. They produced some nice raids that were either neutralised in the box or went wide for want of precision.
The second session came alive with more concentrated efforts from Services, which started probing the Goa box with more purpose. Goa goalkeeper Antonio Da Silva made a crucial save in the 50th minute to make up for the mistake of his defensive colleague Deeshank Kunkalikar, who miscued a clearance to let Services right-half Subham Rana have a crack.
Services kept pressing for the lead and found it in the 67th minute when midfielder Rahul Ramakrishnan set up Saheel outside the Goa box. The Services right-back answered with a powerful grounder that went through Da Silva’s defences.
Goa went in the hunt for the equaliser and came close to finding it on at least three occasions. But Services’ defence stuck to its task and found the clearances at the right moment.
The best chance came in injury-time (90+3 minute) when Deeshank put in a nice cross for substitute Joshua D’Silva. The latter’s header beat the Services goalkeeper Abdul Kadir but Pradeep Kumar cleared from the line to save the day for Services.
The result: Services 1 (P.P. Shafeel 67) bt Goa 0.
