Tie-breaker win gives Kerala 6th Santosh Trophy
Kerala beat defending champions Bengal 4-2 in the tiebreaker after the final ended 2-2 in extra time to win the 72nd edition of the Santosh Trophy football tournament at the Vivekananda Yuvabharati Krirangan here on Sunday.
M.S. Jithin scored in the 19th minute for Kerala while Jiten Murmu drew level for Bengal in the 68th minute. In extra time, Vibin Thomas found the net in the 117th minute for Kerala after Bengal’s Rajon Burman was given his marching orders.
Bengal’s Tirthankar Sarkar scored late into injury time to take the game to penalties. Kerala kept a spotless record in the penalty shoot-out to win their sixth title.
Both sides made the solitary change from their semi-final victories. Kerala got in Afdal VK, the hero that got them to the final for Sajith Poulose to lead the line. Krishna Biswas made way for Sanchayan Samadder in midfield for Bengal.
The hosts were on the attack straightaway. Tirthankar Sarkar had two free kick chances from the left side of the area within the first six minutes. While the first one was duly cleared by the Kerala wall, left-back Sreerag G pulled off a goal-line clearance from Monotosh Chakladar’s shot after goalkeeper V. Midhun parried it away.
However, it was Kerala who broke the deadlock against the run of play. Jithin Gopalan intercepted a ball in the centre of the park and found S. Seesan close by. He then showed vision to set up Jithin MS who brought up his fifth goal of the tournament.
Bengal woke up from their slumber after that. Ankit Mukherjee floated a long ball in the 66th minute and Murmu’s header went wide.
A couple of minutes later, the home side drew level courtesy their captain Murmu.
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