Santosh Trophy ultimate | Companies weathers the Goa problem to carry the title for seventh time

Job properly executed: The Companies workforce celebrates after beating Goa within the ultimate.
| Photograph Credit score: RITU RAJ KONWAR

YUPIA (ARUNACHAL): P.P. Shafeel scored with a spectacular pile-driver to assist Companies beat a robust Goa by a solitary aim within the ultimate to carry the Santosh Trophy for the seventh time within the historical past of the premier inter-state senior males’s soccer competitors.

Goa, the pre-final favorite, couldn’t rise as much as expectations as Companies latched on to Shafeel’s 67th-minute strike and efficiently preserved the lead until the tip.

The opening session on the Golden Jubilee Stadium ended goalless because the attackers failed to search out the specified contact at each ends. There was no dearth of motion although as each side adopted an open method. They produced some good raids that have been both neutralised within the field or went broad for need of precision.

The second session got here alive with extra concentrated efforts from Companies, which began probing the Goa field with extra function. Goa goalkeeper Antonio Da Silva made an important save within the fiftieth minute to make up for the error of his defensive colleague Deeshank Kunkalikar, who miscued a clearance to let Companies right-half Subham Rana have a crack.

Companies stored urgent for the lead and located it within the 67th minute when midfielder Rahul Ramakrishnan arrange Saheel outdoors the Goa field. The Companies right-back answered with a robust grounder that went via Da Silva’s defences.

Goa went within the hunt for the equaliser and got here near discovering it on at the least three events. However Companies’ defence caught to its job and located the clearances on the proper second.

One of the best probability got here in injury-time (90+3 minute) when Deeshank put in a pleasant cross for substitute Joshua D’Silva. The latter’s header beat the Companies goalkeeper Abdul Kadir however Pradeep Kumar cleared from the road to save lots of the day for Companies.

The consequence: Companies 1 (P.P. Shafeel 67) bt Goa 0.