SBT beats India Juniors, enters final

By Our Special Correspondent

PONDICHERRY, JUNE 18. A hush descended at the Indira Gandhi complex when Abdul Noushad made no mistake with his conversion to help SBT Thiruvananthapuram surge into the final beating the crowd favourite India Juniors XI 4-3 via the tie breaker after the teams were locked goalless at end of two hours of energy sapping play including extra-time in the Pondicherry Millennium all India invitation football tournament here on Sunday.

In the title clash tomorrow, SBT will take on Salgaocar Goa while the Juniors will meet Mohun Bagan Calcutta for the third place, the match becoming a necessity since the organisers have offered lavish prizes--Rs. 5 lakh for the winner, Rs.3 lakh for the runner up, Rs. 2 lakh for the third place and Rs.1 lakh for the fourth place.

In a way Noushad made amends for the horrendous mistake he did by missing what was an easy picking, seconds before the end of regulation time. In terms of territorial advantage and number of visits to the goal area, SBT had the upper hand but the Juniors proved the team could not be taken lightly. Indeed keeping SBT at bay for the entire period of play was itself a big achievement but then everything ended in the lottery of penalty kicks.

Luck was the need and that is where the Juniors started off on the negative side. Regular goalkeeper Satish Kumar, such an energetic bundle dislocated the little finger of his right hand during the warm up exercise prior to the match. Omar Khan had to the field for the first time and surely a semi final could not have been something he would have bargained for. That was a bad omen as the proceedings thereafter proved for in the end, the tussle was all about sharpness in goalkeeping and M. Rajeev Kumar's experience showed as he stopped one (Dharamjit), which was crucial for it happened to be the juniors' last try.

The focus then was on Noushad and the young man made no mistake sending Omar the wrong way. Jiju Jacob, M. Vinaykumar and A. Sunil Kumar had earlier succeeded for SBT where V.P. Shaji had kicked out while for Juniors, Bingo Singh, Amandeep Singh, V.K. Harish were on target but the fortunes swung the other way there. Alex Mario, who had raised such hope in regular time, sidefooted his kick off mark and Dharmjit failed to beat Rajeev.

The semifinal otherwise had very few moments to cherish. SBT, coming back after a long rest (it was the first team to enter the last four) showed the control, particularly in the defence where Jiju, Dipu Krishnan, K. Shaji and Vinaykumar proved an entirely different proposition for the Juniors. Unrelenting to the point of making the juniors frustrated, SBT had come with its home work done. Only in the front, the attack found the rival defence equally unyielding. The thing about the Juniors defence was that it allowed Shaji, Hakim, Ajayan and the like hopes but when it came to reacting the young boys proved masters. Mention has to be made of Gnana Prakash who seldom failed and the team had to owe it to him for prolonging the contest for it was his tackling that led to Noushad miscuing from point blank rang when it seemed all was over for the Juniors there and then.

The contest gained some purpose only in the second session with the Juniors trying to work up. Alex had a few good shots even if from distance, one of which shook Rajeev, but the focus was on the other side where action kept intensifying. Close shaves followed, desperate clearances formed the substance all through even in the extra-time.

Monday's match: Final: SBT Thiruvananthapurm v Salgaocar Goa 6.30 p.m.; Third place match: Mohun Bagan v India Juniors 4.30 p.m.

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