Santosh Trophy Final: Services lift Santosh Trophy title for seventh time

ITANAGAR: Shafeel P.P. scored with a spectacular pile-driver to help Services beat Goa by a solitary goal in the final to lift the Santosh Trophy for the seventh time in the long history of the country’s premier inter-state senior men’s competition.

Goa, the favourite ahead of the final, could not rise to expectations as Services latched on to Shafeel’s 67th-minute long-range strike and successfully preserved the lead till the end.

The first-half at the Golden Jubilee Stadium ended goalless as the attackers at both ends failed to find the goalscoring touch. There was no dearth of action as both sides adopted an open approach, producing some impressive raids, which were either neutralised in the box or went wide for the want of precision.

The second-half came alive with more concentrated efforts from Services, which started probing the Goa box, showing purpose with its attacking moves. Goa goalkeeper Antonio Da Silva made a crucial save in the 50th minute to make up for the mistake of his defensive colleague Deeshank Kunkalikar, who miscued a clearance to let Services right-half Subham Rana have a crack at the goal. Agencies

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