Goals that sent pulse racing

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Spectacular goals make a football tournament memorable long after the curtain is brought down. The 11-team CFA senior division league, which concluded on Sunday, witnessed some special efforts over its course of 55 matches. Here is a pick of the best 10 goals.

1 S. Rajesh of Railway scored with a thunderbolt of a free-kick from 30 yards against AGORC. Even though the goal did ultimately prove fruitless for Railway, who lost 1-3, the midfielder’s effort stood out.

2 AGORC duo of Edison and Muthu combined superbly on the right to set up Bhaskar on a platter against ICF. It was one-touch football at its best. The build-up play was even more attractive than the goal.

3 Anto came off the bench to put AGORC 2-1 ahead against SAI with a booming 40-yard free-kick. The goal was special even by the dead-ball expert’s exacting standards. An astonished SAI goalkeeper D. Santhosh, like the others present at the stadium, could do nothing but marvel at the wonderful strike.

4 Pavalavannan’s perceptive defence-splitting pass from near the centre-line and the subsequent cool finish from Jaffar gave Arrows the lead against Indian Bank.

5TN Police played brilliant football for their equaliser (1-1) against Arrows. The ball was moved with precision and speed before it found the back of the net through a sublime touch form Devaraj.

6Railway left-winger Venkatesan earned a point for his team against SAI with a stellar long-range effort in the final seconds. He sent an unstoppable 35-yard pile driver crashing into the net.

7Fredy’s 35-yard cracker went in like a bullet fired by an ace shooter. It was some effort by the ICF striker, who scored all the four goals in his team’s 4-1 romp over SAI.

8David of Customs had been struggling for form and goals. But he broke his duck with a superb drive against Arrows. The angle was narrow on the right but it didn’t matter to the spirited player.

9When Bhaskar threaded a pass to Anto there was no hint of danger because the latter was near the byline, a few yards away from the goal. But Anto, being Anto, had other ideas. The AGORC veteran lobbed the ball expertly over SBI goalkeeper from an acute angle to leave the fans delirious.

10 The goal from Rajesh that paved the way for Railway’s comeback against Customs was a class apart. Rajesh had angled his header to a deep cross from the right so well that Customs goalie could do nothing to stop it.