Kerala end 14-year wait for Santosh Trophy

KOLKATA:  In a final that lived up to its billing, Kerala defeated hosts and last season’s champions West Bengal via a tiebreaker to emerge champions in the 72nd Santosh Trophy at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Sunday. After the extra time ended with both sides locked at 2-2, goalkeeper Midhun V turned the tide in Kerala’s favour, saving two penalties.

The shootout ended 4-2 in Kerala’s favour, handing them their sixth Santosh Trophy title. In a thriller which saw several twists, Kerala took the lead through Jithin MS in the first half before the home side levelled through their captain Jiten Murmu in the 68th minute. Kerala had one hand on the trophy when Vibin Thomas scored in the 117th minute, but Tirthankar Sarkar curled in a freekick through the hands of goalkeeper Midhun in the dying moments to force the penalty shootout.

The Kerala shot-stopper made amends as he saved from the first two takes — from Ankit Mukherjee and Nabi Hussain Khan — while captain Rahul, Jithin Gopalan, Jestin George and Seesan S converted to give Kerala a 4-2 win in the penalties and their first title in 14 years. It was all Bengal in the early periods of the game, but the match was turned on its head by a moment of individual brilliance from Jithin in the 19th minute. Kerala’s midfield enforcer Seesan played a gem of a ball to play through the winger on the right. Jithin’s pace was too much for Sourav Dasgupta to catch up with as he rolled the ball through the legs of Bengal goalkeeper Ranajit Majumder to make it 1-0.

Buoyed by the opener, Kerala added more impetus to their attacks and produced several giltedged chances to double their lead, but were unfortunate not to score again. Striker Afdal VK missed an open goal in the injury time of the first half after Anurag PC and Jithin launched a slick counter-attack. Meanwhile, at the other end, captain Rahul V Raj’s heroics as he threw himself at a Murmu shot kept Kerala’s lead intact a little later. But that was only a signal of things to come from Bengal as the hosts were a totally different outfit in the second period with the introduction of Rajon Barman during the break.

Captain Murmu, Barman, Trithankar Sarkar were a constant menace for Kerala’s defence, but Kerala could have killed the game in the 61st minute had it not been for Anurag who missed a sitter. Instead, it was Bengal and Murmu who found the back of the net seven minutes later as the forward fired in from a cross by Barman. The score would remain 1-1 for the rest of regulation time and for much of the extra period as well.

But that was not to say Kerala were without chances to score another. Afdal missed two more chances — one in the dying minutes of the second half and then in the extra time. As the game was heading towards a penalty shootout, there were a couple of twists in the tale. Kerala scored three minutes from the finish as Vibin Thomas headed in from a Sreerag VG cross and celebrated wildly in front of the few who had come to support them. They thought they had the cup in their hands, but Sarkar had other plans! Bengal were awarded a free kick in front of the goal in the third minute of the four minutes added on to extra time. Sarkar fired in the freekick to take the game to tiebreakers.

Previous Kerala victories
Year Venue
2004-05 Delhi
2000-01 Mumbai
1992-93 Kochi
1991-92 Coimbatore
1973-74 Ernakulam

adwaidh@newindianexpress.com