Star of Canara S.C. beat Karnatak S.C. 3-2 on Penalties to book a place in the final

by Balbir Singh November 15, 2015

On Friday 14^th November ’15, the first semifinal of the 9^th Late Adv. A. R. Kudrolli Memorial Knockout Football Tournament kicked-off at Karnatak Sports Association ground in Churchgate. Karnatak Sports Club and Star of Canara Sports Club held each-other out throughout the 60 minutes. As the game went into a nail-biting climax of a penalty shoot-out (2-3) it was the men in Red of Karnatak Sports Club who slipped and lost a place in this year’s final against Jai Bharat Sports Club.

Karnatak Sports Club dominated the early proceedings by pressurizing the Star of Canara Sports Club defence; Both Amey and Aditya continuously kept the S.C.S.C. defence under pressure by pressing and hoping to retain the possession higher up the field against a comparatively slower defence. Gradually, this gameplay worked-out well, in slightly different fashion though.

On the 10^th minute mark number 9 Aditya Swami guided the ball past goalkeeper Pawan Shetty of Star of Canara Sports Club with a sweet left-foot finish as he pounced upon a well timed through-ball in between the space two S.C.S.C. defenders.

The S.C.S.C. strikers were far for from convincing in the opening exchange of play. While Karnatak Sports Club’s strikers created half and quarter chances for themselves at ease, their counterparts struggled.  Karnatak Sports Club were awarded with three glorious chances to expand their lead, but their failure to convert any cost them a place in the final eventually.

The S.C.S.C. strikers came into the second half with greater intent to make a difference and capitalize on their missed chances from the first half of play. On the 33^rd minute mark a good movement to lose his marker gave Sheldon Rego a good chance to equal scores, but his lobbed effort went off target. After 6 minutes i.e. on the 39^th minute Sheldon Rego scored the leveler as his wrong footed the goalkeeper Kisan Sulega to slot the ball past him and into the right corner of the goal.

The match ended at 1-1 with both teams trying their best to convert any chance falling in their path. As the game went into penalties, Karnatak S.C. was planning to replicate their quarterfinal win where they won in a penalty shoot-out.  But that wasn’t the case in the semifinals as they were somewhat impressively beaten by S.C.S.C. 3-2 in pulsating semifinal. For Karnatak S.C. the first two penalties were missed by Rishik Shetty and Amey Bhatkal, whereas S.C.S.C. converted the first but failed to convert the next two after excellent work from Kisan Sulega in goal. The Reds cames into the game scoring their 3^rd and 4^th penalty, and with Star of Canara Sports Club also scoring their 4^th penalty, all the pressure came on the final two takers. While number 17 Sanjay Rathod missed out and presented a golden opportunity for Star of Canara Sports Club to book a ticket in the final, they didn’t fail to take it. On stepped Karan Amin for S.C.S.C. and calmly slotted the ball to lead his team into the final.

They now face Jai Bharat S.C. in the final which is to be played on 21st November 2015.