Chandigarh derail Railways

Chandigarh, March 22: It was just as well that there were no pre-match odds available for a punter to place his faith and money on Chandi...

Chandigarh, March 22: It was just as well that there were no pre-match odds available for a punter to place his faith and money on Chandigarh’s entry to the quarterfinals. The City of Sectors showed that they knew a thing or two about football.

No praise could be too high for Chandigarh while making it to the quarterfinals of the Bharat Petroleum Santosh Trophy at the Nehru Stadium, Chennai, today, with a 2-0 win over Railways. The little statistical delight is that they have made the grade in only their second year, according to information received here.

It was a must-win situation for Chandigarh when they took on Railways in the last match of Cluster H. The teams had two wins each but Railways with a better goal average were sitting pretty, needing just a draw.

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Referee P K Bose of Madhya Pradesh’s supervision was of the highest order and ensured that things were order in the middle. With a lot at stake, tempers frayed but the early bookings from Bose ensured that only his whistle will do all the talking.

Chandigarh were without their key striker Rajiv Rattan, down with fever. Reduced they were to ten at the stroke of respite time, the win must have done wonders to their morale, not to speak of the confidence. Sachin’s second yellow of the match earned an automatic red.

Railways were undone by goals of the keepsake variety, coming at either side of the half. Certainly not many of those sorts were seen in this edition. Vinay Kanwar’s effort was of the stunning variety. A long ball from the rear looked innocuous as Railways defenders Tara Sankar and Karmakar converged on the ball. Just a momentary hesitation on their part found Kanwar snatch the ball and in a flash stabbed it home, early in the second half.

Kanwar had a role to play in the first goal too packing a lot of punch in his corner. As it deflected off the boot of Sunil Kumar, Sachin’s carpeted drive from the outside of the boot settled in nicely at the far post. One’s sympathy went for Railways goalkeeper Sumit Chodhary for on each occasion he had no time to react, let alone come in the way.

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Railways must have wondered as to when it was the last time when they tried so hard and came up with so little. Ravi, Suresh Kumar and Marcel Sladen were the three vital cogs. For sure, the team must have missed a tall striker and one felt Sladen’s presence as a linkman would have done the team’s cause better.

Some near misses at the goal were all Railways could show for at the end. Those were close shaves for Chandigarh but they richly deserved the little luck allowance.

In a match of little consequence, Andaman & Nicobar beat Rajasthan 3-2 (Cluster H). Timothy (62m), Derick (63m) and Joseph scored for the winners. Ajay Kumar (85m) and Samiuddin (87m) came good for Rajasthan.