Sport - Football

Rose blooms for Titanium
By Our Sports Reporter

KANNUR, MARCH 4. Titanium laboured to a 1-0 win over Karnataka Police in a Cluster I match of the second division National Football League (phase I) at the Municipal Jawahar stadium here on Monday.

Striker Ebin Rose saved his team from embarrassment, nodding in the winning goal in the 59th minute. The goal came after prolonged dominance by Titanium, which clearly was the superior side today.

Titanium started off slowly and it was the Police side which called shots early in the first half. Twice inside the first quarter, Titanium goalkeeper Rajeevan had to come out of his guard to keep the ball out of harm's way.

But it was Titanium which had the first look at the goal in the 20th minute when Ebin Rose advanced into the rival penalty area and unleashed a stiff right footer which however, was palmed away by goal-keeper Saravana. Though Titanium had better of the ball possession and did all the running in the middle, the strikers lacked ideas once they entered the rival penalty area.

The Karnataka side was outplayed in the second half during which Titanium earned at least half a dozen chances of scoring. But poor finishing prevented it from winning by a handsome margin. Moreover, the Karnataka team's obsession for off-side trap invited trouble as both Ebin Rose and Usman evaded it on a few occasions.

In fact, the match-winner was scored when the entire defence stood transfixed hoping the lines-man to raise the off- side flag when Shajahan curled in a floater from right flank. The unchallenged Ebin Rose had little difficulty in heading the ball home.

The goal pepped up Titanium, which launched a blistering attack at the rival goal. Boniface and Abdul Hameed worked overtime to spray passes to strikers Usman and Ebin Rose. The Karnataka defence was found wanting and its ploy of using the off-side trap backfired as both Usman and Ebin Rose broke away free only to mess easy chances.

Karnataka side's only positive response to Titanium raids came in the 40th minute when Senthil Kumar lobbed a ball into the Titanium penalty area, forcing goalkeeper Rajeevan to rush out and deny M.J. Antony. A fumble by Rajeevan at the fag end of the match, saw Karnataka earn a free-kick just outside the penalty box. But Senthil's try was way off the mark and with it ended his team's chances.

Due to general strike, there will be no match on Tuesday and on Wednesday, Pax of Nagoa takes on Karnataka Police.

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