KOCHI: St Joseph’s College, Devagiri, Kozhikode and Mar Athanasius(MA) College, Kothamangalam on Thursday registered victories in their respective first round matches to progress to the pre-quarter stage of the TNIE GOAL 2018 all-Kerala inter-collegiate football tournament at the Maharaja’s College Stadium hereSt Joseph’s downed SS College, Areacode 3-1 on penalties in the first match of the day while MA College blanked Sree Krishna College, Guruvayur 3-0 to in the second game to advance to the next round. In the opening game, it was SS College which drew first blood with Rishabudeen finding the net barely 10 minutes into the first half.
It was the result of the hard work by Harshad Arif K who sprinted down the right wing before sending in a cross to the goalmouth. Though Bujair V jumped up to meet the cross, he failed to connect. However, Rishabudeen was there at the far post to head it in to put SS College in the lead. St Joseph’s, though, had to wait till the second half when Anandhu Roshan managed to find the net to help the team draw level.
In a half where chances were far and few, Rishabudeen was again at the end of a rare move, but his effort in the 39th minute ballooned over the goal. Desperately searching for the equaliser, St Joseph’s made some early changes, with striker Irshad coming on at the end of the first half.
They also brought in Anandu Roshan to replace Shibin at the start of the second period and the substitutions did the trick for the Kozhikode college as the two new players combined to produce Devagiri’s equaliser. Irshad did the running this time and his cutback was tapped in by Anandu to make it 1-1 in the 52nd minute. They could have increased the lead six minutes later when Hijas fired over the woodwork from the edge of the box.
Then it was Areacode’s turn to threaten the rival goalmouth and twice they nearly found the target. It was Bujair yet again who was unable to capitalise on both the occasions. In the 59th minute, he rounded the keeper and fired inches wide from a tight angle. Hardly two minutes later, his shot once again missed the far post, this time by a few centimetres. Anandu could have easily won it for St Joseph’s in the end after Areacode custodian Hijas V K fumbled with Anil’s cross. But the St Joseph’s striker hit straight at the keeper leading to the tie-breakers. SS College were able to convert all but one of the four spot kicks in the shootout.
The second match of the day saw Mar Athanasius College, Kothamangalam, who had finished runners-up in TNIE GOAL 2012, score a convincing victory over Sree Krishna College, Guruvayur. Fahad Aliyar scored twice, with Sudarshan putting the outcome of the match beyond dispute with a strike in the 80th minute .
MA College took the lead in the fourth minute through Fahad and the striker made it 2-0 in the 38th minute. The Guruvayur side were offered a lifeline midway through the half when the referee awarded them a penalty kick for a foul on Vishnudev M. But Sandeep V N, who took the spot kick, could only hit the side post.