RPF beat Excise 2-0, ease relegation worries

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Railway Protection Force (RPF) banished their relegation worries with a resounding 2-0 win over Central Excise in the St. Joseph’s-CFA senior division league here on Sunday.

Barring a missed penalty in the first half, Excise never looked like scoring and they should be happy that the punishment wasn’t more severe in the battle between promoted teams.

The score line is not an accurate reflection of the proceedings at the Nehru Stadium; RPF were superior in all departments.

More importantly, the enthusiasm of the winners caught the eye. Despite doubling their lead in the 43rd minute, RPF never stopped attacking.

Excise, who are now enmeshed in the relegation zone, were dire, dreadful … and what not. After holding Arrows 2-2 in their last match, they had nothing left in their tank against the enterprising RPF.

They failed to recover from the psychological blow of missing a penalty and conceding a second goal in quick succession.

Md. Hazeem nearly scored a goal as soon as the match started but his left-footed pile driver lacked the angle to beat Excise goalkeeper Suresh.

The miss was consigned to history in the 11th minute as Md. Illias conceived RPF’s opener with a probing run on the right. Abdul Nazar slammed an excellent cut back from Illias into the roof of the net.

Excise’s struggle to construct a meaningful move was obvious to everyone. Aseem worked hard in isolation.

Whenever the nippy forward initiated an attack on the left, the crowd had to goad his lethargic teammates to join the action.

Aseem’s persistence finally paid off when he earned a penalty after being tripped by RPF right-back Selvaganesh.

Excise, pedestrian in open play, should have grabbed the chance with both hands. Instead, it was RPF goalkeeper Akhil Soman who used his hand to help his team preserve their lead. He dived to his right to parry Kumaran’s feeble spot kick.

The punishment for Excise’s generosity was instant as Libin fired a 25-yard freekick home majestically.

The RPF midfielder struck the ball so sweetly that the Excise goalkeeper just stood rooted in his place. Even the spectators took some time to appreciate the outstanding goal — easily one of the best this season — because they weren’t used to watching such stellar set-piece efforts in Chennai.

Results

Senior division: RPF 2 (Abdul Nazar 11, Libin 43) bt Central Excise 0. MoM: Libin.
First division: SBI 3 (Annadurai, Jefferson, Nataraja Murugan) bt DB Annai Youth 0.
Action today: Senior division: Chennai FC vs Southern Railway (5 pm).