Kerala Police in final

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After 90 minutes of industrious, often commanding but in the end fruitless play, RCF Kapurthala (Punjab) found the answer against Kerala Police via penalty kicks on Thursday.

Striker Nazarudeen scored the decisive kick at the Nehru Stadium to send Kerala Police through to the Aima-TFA Shield all-India football tournament final with a 4-2 win in the shootout after the match was tied 2-2 at regulation period.

Kerala Police, in the title clash, will play either ICF or AGORC (both local teams) who scored quarterfinal victories over KSEB (Kerala) and Indian Bank on Wednesday.

Substitute goalkeeper Melbin came off the bench to do the star turn for Kerala Police. Replacing first-choice goalie Vinshob for the tie-breaker, Melbin pulled off a couple of acrobatic saves to drub RCF.

The custodian denied substitute Pankaj Sura (taking the second kick) with a brilliant diving effort towards his left before nullifying Jagtar Singh’s harmless effort with his outstretched leg.

Meanwhile, after Kerala had succeeded in their first three attempts, playmaker Aneesh missed from the spot with a wild shot over the crossbar. However, Nazarudeen held his nerve to signal off the victory.

Earlier, Kerala had only themselves to blame for stretching the match beyond the final whistle.

They let RCF come from behind on two occasions through some sloppy defending but mainly through Vinshob’s abject goalkeeping.

Vinshob looked clueless in the entire outing and was time and again spilling out regulation balls in a dangerous manner.

With a minute left for the lemon-break, RCF left-back Gopal Thapa’s silly error helped Kerala Police register their opening goal.

The defender gave away possession in a precarious area while trying to make a splitting pass. Police striker Firoz who received the ball immediately sent his partner Nazarudeen through with an aerial assist.

Nazarudeen, after seeing RCF ’keeper Mukhwinder Singh leave his line, fired in a thundering half-volley from nearly 35 yards that almost tore the net. Later, Nazarudeen returned favours by setting up Firoz for Police’s second.

Post interval, RCF hit back twice through striker Balaraj Singh and substitute Abhishek. Balaraj’s goal came after a long throw-in from the left was re-laid onto his path by Amandeep Singh’s header.

Balaraj managed to beat Vinshob through the air after the latter was caught in two minds whether to attack or stay put.

With two minutes left on the clock, Abhishek made complete use of an injured and immobilised defender Marsook’s horrible clearance inside the area to take it to penalties. Vinshob, shockingly, was yet again ball watching even as the ball struck an upright before going in.

Result

SF: Kerala Police 6 (2) (Nazarudeen 44; Firoz 65) bt RCF Kapurthala 4 (2) (Balaraj Singh 64; Abhishek 88). MoM: Firoz.

Action today: SF: ICF vs AGORC (4pm).