15 June:Defending champions Punjab beat Services 1-0 in the 62nd Santosh Trophy National Championship for Football at Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar on Sunday.
The semifinal encounter was pushed to the penalty shoot out after the two teams failed to find the net in 120 minutes of play.
Now Punjab will take field against Services to defend their title on Sunday. The shootout was a tense affair as both sides scored the first three spot kicks.
Karnataka’s Srinath missed the fourth attempt as he shot over the bar but their custodian made up for the miss after pulling off a brilliant save on the spot kick taken by Punjab’s Balwant Singh.
It was heartbreak for Karnataka as Sanath Kumar shot the last spot kick wide and then Punjab defender Ravindra Singh, who had an excellent game today, coolly slotted his attempt past the Karnataka goalkeeper, sparking wild celebrations among his team mates.
Coach Jagir Singh was particularly happy as his team had played better football in the last one hour of the match but was denied an outright victory by some stout defending by the team from the South.
No team could score a goal in the regulation time forcing the game into extra time, which also failed to produce a goal.
Both teams came close to scoring many times but could not break the deadlock. Sanath Kumar could have put Karnataka ahead in the 53rd minute but he only managed to hit the outside post of Punjab goal from just 10 yards with only Karanjit Singh to beat.
In the 68th minute Punjab came close to scoring through Jagpreet Singh but his weak left footer was easily collected by goalkeeper Gumpe Rime.
Karnataka launched a counter attack in the same minute but Sanath Kumar only managed to head the ball into Karanjit’s hands.
A defensive lapse in the 80th minute nearly cost Karnataka the match but Punjab striker Balraj Singh could not capitalise and shot straight at the goalkeeper.
As Karanataka players began to tire, they resorted to some rash play towards the end of the regulation time. Two Karnataka players were booked by the referee within three minutes of each other.
The two teams went into the breather with the score line reading 0-0.
The match started at a very good pace with both Karnataka and Punjab trying to take an early lead. Punjab defender Ravinder Singh made an overlapping run into Karnataka half in the second minute and unleashed a powerful right footer from
20 yards. However, he was denied the goal by the cross bar.
In the very next minute, Karnataka showed that they were no pushovers as Bimal Minz returned the favour. This time Punjab skipper and custodian Karanjit Singh pulled off a brilliant save.
Dada Nabeel then missed an easy opportunity in the 19th minute when skipper Xavier Vijay Kumar sent in a cross from the right flank but Nabeel could not latch on to the chance.
The two sides continued to trade half chances from there on but Baljit Sahni drew a brilliant save from Karnataka custodian Gumpe Rime in the 42nd minute.Courtsey :DD NEWS