The second game of the tournament was between first years and PhD scholars.
First years got off to a rousing start; hardly had a minute passed when Sherwin Rodriguez scored the first goal. They kept pressing all the way along, Sherwin and Suraj Unnikrishnan Menon being ably assisted by John Sabu Mathew. Quite a few threatening attacks narrowly missed out on becoming a goal. After a while, the scholars’ attack bore fruit. Although few good attacks and shots led to corners which didn’t yield any goals, PhD scholars won a penalty after a handball by the first years. Dayal Paleri scored off it. Thus the teams were evenly poised at the end of the first half.
In the second half, first years started attacking from the start. A couple of close chances were created. Over the next few minutes, there were multiple shots and corners. But none of them were converted into goals, thanks to the brilliance of Naseef, the goalkeeper of PhD scholars. He pulled off some great saves. But after a point, first years scored their second goal. Naseef saved a shot from John, but John scored from the rebound. They struck again immediately, with Suraj scoring a goal barely minutes after the second goal. PhD scholars did orchestrate a few attacks, but they were few and far between. Towards the end, first years won a penalty, after a handball by Naseef. However, Nishant Kumar saved the penalty by Sharath SM.
The game finished 3 – 1 in favour of the first years.
Report by Avinaash R
Article 19 