The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Central Excise stuns Viva, in final

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 07, 2007
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Sport - Tennis

Central Excise stuns Viva, in final

Principal Correspondent

KOZHIKODE: Central Excise scored a sensational 4-2 win over Viva Kerala and entered the final of the Western Union State football league at the Corporation Stadium here on Sunday. In the final on Tuesday, Excise will meet former champion SBT.

The match between the two Kochi sides was one-sided, expectedly more or less, but not in the way most people thought, as it was the Excise men who controlled the game.

They were in fact leading 4-0 going into the last eight minutes of the game.

It was a shoddy performance by Viva, Kerala's lone representative in next year's NFL first division next year.

The team came up with probably its worst show of the season.

Excellent show

The Excise men, on the other hand, played a kind of football few suspected they were capable of.

They defended stoutly, gave little room to the dangerous Baba Tunde, who had come into the match with eight goals, and converted even the half chances that came their way.

M.K. Sunil opened the scoring in the 16th minute, volleying in a 25-yarder as the Viva custodian M. Shiju failed to punch away an A.M. Sajeer corner-kick out of danger.

Sunil strikes

Sunil struck again in the 34th minute, bending in a free-kick from just outside the box, awarded for a foul on P.A. Javed by Saheed Omobalaj, who would be sent off in the second half after earning a second yellow card.

Hanson scores

C.C. Hanson scored the next two goals for Excise, in the 38th and 60th minutes, not without some help from the Viva defence on both the occasions.

For Viva, A.V. Sabeesh, coming in for K. Shiju, in the 83rd minute, and Baba (from the spot; the penalty was awarded for a foul on Sabeesh by Vineeth Antony), in the injury time, were the scorers.

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