Goals galore on day three

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The Sunday holiday crowd were ‘treated’ to a couple of mundane encounters on the third day of the Aima-TFA Shield all-India football tournament here at the Nehru Stadium.

In the lop-sided matches, KSEB (Kerala) raced into the last eight after registering a commanding 7-1 win against Thiruvallur DFA, while Chennai giants — ICF — taught the visiting Karnataka XI a lesson or two with a facile 6-0 thumping.

In both games, it wasn’t hard to spot the winners even before the contests had reached their half-hour marks — such were the sloppy performances produced by the losers. With the entire defence line failing to show up, it turned out to be an overdose of goals.

ICF rode on S. Fredy’s hat-trick to launch their campaign in style. The robust striker opened his account in the sixth minute with an easy tap-in, with the assist coming from left-winger Santha Kumar. Fredy’s second, which was again created by Santha, was the best of the lot.

Fredy, who possesses a lethal header, nodded in the former Mohun Bagan player’s inch-perfect cross. Santha also got his name on the scoring sheet with a stinging pile-driver from just outside the box. Midfielders Dhadeus and Auxiano struck a goal apiece.

ICF coach P. Thulasi wasn’t entirely convinced, even though the result was resounding. “We had planned a few things before the match but we weren’t able to execute them properly. The boys know that they can do better than this.

There is scope for improvement in midfield. We have to be on our toes against KSEB in the quarterfinals,” he said.

Later, Muneer, M. Alex and M. Dhaneesh scored a brace each in KSEB’s big win. The match was poised nicely with KSEB leading by a solitary goal before being turned on its head when Muneer scored two goals in two minutes.

The momentum swung in favour of the Kerala side and from that point onwards the game was always heading in one direction.

With no penetration from their opponents, KSEB deployed a high line of defence after the break. The only consolation for Thiruvallur came in the dying minutes when Prashanth found the net.

Results: ICF 6 (Fredy 6, 22, 62; Santha Kumar 12, Dhadeus 45+2; Auxiano 55) bt Karnataka XI 0. MoM: Fredy. KSEB 7 (Muneer 24, 25; Alex 37, 59; Dhaneesh 65, 67; Sudhil 13) bt Thiruvallur DFA 1 (Prashanth 89). MoM: Muneer.

Action today: Indian Bank vs President’s XI (4pm). Pune FC vs AGORC (6pm).