Orissa overcomes Chandigarh

By M.R. Praveen Chandran

CHALAKUDY, MARCH 29. A tenacious Orissa overcame a stiff challenge from Chandigarh to win 2-1 in a Cluster II match of the National football championship for the Santosh Trophy at the Carmel stadium here on Wednesday.

The match between the two unfancied teams had its share of excitement as well as drabness as both the sides fought to overcome bouts of inconsistency. But it was Orissa which looked the better of the two teams as it showed better coordination in the midfield and its attacks had variation and more punch to it than that of its rival.

Orissa held the whiphand in the first-half but failed to translate its territorial dominance into goals. The blame for this should largely go its strikers Meghrai Tudu, Laxman Chatterjee and Devanand Swain, who after having a measure of the slow Chandigarh defenders were guilty of wasting at least three glit-edged chances.

The Orissa defence looked vulnerable to fast counter- attacks and there were at least three occasions when the goalkeeper Anindya Deb had to come out to save his side from facing an embarassment.

The second session started on a rousing note when Devanand Swain's sustained run on the right flank, in the opening minute, saw his shot hit the right post and bounce out. Orissa finally broke the deadlock in the 59th minute when Meghrai Tudu drove home from close. The goal was scored off a flag-kick floated in by Laxman Chatterjee. The ball bounced awkwardly in and it caught the entire defence napping. Megharai who was left unattended made no mistake.

A fast counterattack by Chandigarh resulted in the equaliser. And it was Anindya Deb's propensity to roam inside the box which led to the goal. Viney Kanwar sent Rajeev Rattan free with a long lob and the striker sensing that the rival goalkeeper had strayed away from his line lobbed the ball over the custodian's head, from outside the penalty box.

But a few minutes later Anindya Deb came to his side's rescue when he blocked a stiff shot from Chandigarh's Sanjeev Kanwar. Orissa also regained the lead in the 78th minute, the credit of which should go to susbtitute Chabi Hansda. Chabi cut into the penalty box from the right and arrowed in a cross which Devanand Swain failed to connect with his first-timer. The ball rolled to an unmarked Kapur Chand Yadav and he stabbed it in from the top of the box.

On Thursday, Services will take on Manipur in the first pre- quarterfinal of the tournament.

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Section  : Sport
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