Karnataka sink Odisha’s semis hopes via last gasp winner!

by Spandan Paul March 24, 2018

24^th March’18 Kolkata : Karnataka’s winning spree continued even on Saturday afternoon when they overcame Odisha courtesy a late goal in the second half .They thus remain very much in contention for a semi final berth as they made it two out of two after mauling Goa in their previous fixture.

Karnataka opened the scoring in the 26^th minute via Leon Augustine but Odisha came back strongly in to the game by restroring the parity in the added injury time of the first half through their skipper Arjun Nayak. Karnataka striker Rajesh S slotted home couple of minutes before the stipulated full time to take his side safe and dry and very much in contention for a place in the semi final.

Karnataka looked more composed of the two as they seemed confident on the ball and had nice combination down the middle to keep their opponent backline always on toes.

But Odisha got the first threatening chance in the 4^th minute courtesy swift movement down left but Arbin Lakra‘s shot was well saved by Shainkhan CP the Karnataka goalie.

7 minutes later Karnataka had a scoring opportunity when Rajesh S sidenetted after getting  a nice minus from the right flanks where Leon Augustine was splitting venom with his incisive runs.

The opening goal of the match came through one such run by the U-21 winger Leon,who started from the halfline and went past dribbling 4 of the Odisha defenders  to produce a brilliant final touch that defeated even the onrushing Odisha custodian Ezajuddin Khan. Odisha tried their luck with Arbin Lakra and skipper Arjun Nayak combining well as  Bhabagrahi Padhihary, their centre midfield had a cracking attempt at goal saved by Karnataka goalie.

Karnataka could’ve gone ahead but for a brilliant save by Odisha goalie who dived to his left to deny Liton Shil’s header after a corner by Leon . But Md. Salim’s boys came back into the game against the run of the play 2 minutes down the added injury time at the stroke of half time when their skipper Arjun Nayak  headed in from a Kartika Bhola corner. Karnataka would count them unlucky as the ball got deflected on its way into the net.

After an entertaining first half, both the sides took a pragmatic approach in the second and concentrated on their defense. Karnataka came close to score on a couple of occasions  but were undone in the final third due to lack of penetration. In the 60^th minute Odisha seemed to shift gears when forward Rajesh Nayak came in place of midfielder Sunil Sardar, who missed an easy chance in the first half  enabling them to switch to 4-3-3 formation from the initial 4-4-2.

Odisha had a golden opportunity in the 80^th minute to which Karnataka goalie will be patting his own back  as he brilliantly saved a solo effort by Arbin whose last touch was tricky to say the least. Just when it seemed this group A clash will end up being a stalemate Karnataka found their way back into the game with a last gasp winner couple of minutes before the stipulated full time.

It was moment of brilliance from the Karnataka forward   Liton Shil who took  out 2 defenders and played it to his skipper on the right as Vignesh, the Ozone midfielder who plays in Bangalore Super Division. He showed brilliant presence of mind to pass on quickly to his right to avert the rush of crowd of Odisha defenders. Rajesh S was at the right position at the right time and guided the ball into an open net.

Karnataka thus registered their second successive win and remain in second spot in group B while Odisha are out of the semi-final race after falling to their third successive defeat in the 72^nd Santosh Trophy main stage.