[1]State Bank of Travancore (SBT) emerged the new champions at the GV Raja football tournament in the University Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram, on Tuesday.
The bank-men routed Kerala Police 5-1 in the final, with Usman scoring a brace and Shibinlal, Abdul Noushad KM and Rinil CJ striking a goal each. Police skipper Shareef scored the consolation from the penalty spot.
The police team was deemed the favourites, considering their terrific run up to the final, but they were left to chase all night after Shibinlal struck a venomous 30-yarder. Before the cops could regroup and restore any order on the pitch, striker Usman found the back of the next with a brilliant individual run, just six minutes after the opener.
The Kerala Police needed to strike back, and twice, inside the first half, were denied by SBT custodian Jean Christian. But there was no way back for them after SBT captain Abdul Noushad headed in their third of the match from a Sumesh cross.
Things couldn’t get any worse for Sharaf Ali’s side after Rinil C. J. blasted in from close range in the 43rd minute. Usman completed his brace in the 56th minute and it would have gone down as a near-flawless game by the bankmen albeit a 79th minute sending off incident.
Rinil was given the second yellow and marching orders, reducing SBT to 10 men. The man deficit left a crack in the SBT defense and they gave away a penalty for fouling IM Vijayan inside the box. Police captain Shareef converted it and the final score read 5-1.
SBT was given a paycheck of `1 lakh and runner-up Kerala Police received `50,000. SBT custodian Jean was adjudged best goal keeper and KSEB’s Surjith VV bagged the best defender award while his teammate Ramsheed was the ‘most promising’ player.
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/sbtjpgcropdisplayjpg-169