Kancheepuram edges past Coimbatore

DINDIGUL, MAY 16: Kancheepuram entered the semifinals of the 24th Tamilnadu State junior inter-district football championship for T. P. Ramasamy Pillai Trophy, conducted by Dindigul District Football Association, defeating Coimbatore 3-2 via tie-breaker, at St. Mary's Higher Secondary School ground here on Wednesday. At the regulation time, the teams shared two goals.

The match was equally contested in the first half which ended barren. Kancheepuram went into the attack strongly after resumption and took the lead in the 51st minute. Left stopper Benedict Leonard, went up the middle and lobbed the ball to striker Prabu who after dribbling past a host of defenders placed the ball into the goal.

Stung by this reverse, Coimbatore, which got a walk over from the Tamilnadu Sports Hostels teams, pepped up pressure to get the equaliser. Kancheepuram boys unable to meet the pressure, resorted to rough and robust play with the result that Coimbatore got more than a dozen foul kicks and off one Maniraj sent the ball straight into the net.

Three minutes from close for the equaliser. Earlier Coimbatore should have got a goal when Promod sent a stinging shot but Benedict Leonard effected a goal line save. In the tie-breaker, Benetto and Mohana Krishnan scored for Kancheepuram and Muniraj only succeeded for Coimbatore.

Earlier the defending champion, Kanyakumari and Chennai moved into the quarterfinals with victories over Tirunelveli and Nilgiris respectively.

While Kanyakumari posted a 2-0 win, scoring once in each half, Chennai crushed a hapless Nilgiris outfit, which had the misfortune of playing the first match in the afternoon in scorching sum, 9-0. Actually the climate did not suit the boys from the Hill Station.

The other match between chennai City boys and the Nilgiris Hill Station boys was purely one-sided as the Nilgiris boys could not do anything right in the scorching heat. The Chennai boys moved menacingly with midfielder Rajesh Raja controlling the midfield and the moves also. he not only scored a goal but also paved the way to score three other goals by others. Chennai scored seven goals in the first session and only two in the second, taking things easily.

Jeyakumar scored three goals, Venkatesh and Jothikumar scored a brace each and the other two goals were scored by Ashok Kumar and Rajesh Raja.

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Section  : Sport
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