Kerala defeated defending Champions Bengal 4-2 on penalties after the full-time scoreline read 2-2 to win the 72nd Hero Santosh Trophy at the Vivekananda Yuvabharati Krirangan in Kolkata on Sunday.
Jithin MS scored in the 19th minute for Kerala while Jiten Murmu drew level in the 68th minute. In extra time, Vibin Thomas first found the net in the 117th minute after Rajon Burman was sent off. Tirthankar scored late into injury time for Bengal to take the game to penalties where Kerala emerged eventual victors.
Bengal were on the attack from the early minutes of the match. Tirthankar Sarkar had two freekick chances from the left side of the area within the first six minutes. While the first one was duly cleared by the Kerala wall, left-back Sreerag G pulled off a goal-line clearance from Monotosh Chakladar's shot after goalkeeper Midhun V parried it away.
However, it was Kerala who broke the deadlock against the run of play. Jithin Gopalan intercepted a ball in the centre of the park and found Seesan S close by. He then showed some great vision to release Jithin MS on the run. Bengal's left-back, Abhishek Mukherjee was off his position and with Sourav Dasgupta failing to track the winger, Jithin MS brought up his fifth goal of the tournament by slotting home through goalkeeper Ranajit Majumder's gates. All attempts of a comeback from Bengal were thwarted by the southern side.
Ankit Mukherjee and Nabi Hussain Khan missed the first two penalties for Bengal as Midhun V saved both. Tirthankar Sarkar and Sanchayan Samadder’s conversion did not help as Kerala had a cent percent record with Rahul V Raj, Jithin Gopalan and Jestin George all scoring. For the final kick, Jiten Murmu took on the gloves but Seesan S shot past the striker to deliver Kerala the Hero Santosh Trophy.