Goa, Bengal split points as crowds stay away on home team’s off day

With the home team not being part of the day’s Santosh Trophy schedule, the crowd, too, decided to give the quarter-final league proceedings a miss.

With the home team not being part of the day’s Santosh Trophy schedule, the crowd, too, decided to give the quarter-final league proceedings a miss. The handful who did come huddled under umbrellas as the sun beat down on the Bakshi Stadium, and were soon lulled into a deep slumber by Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Karnataka strung together a dizzying number of passes in front of the opposition goal, but were satisfied with just that; no one seemed keen on taking a shot.

The 61st minute, though, shook everyone, almost comically. A free kick from Karnataka’s No 14, Rajendra Kumar, rattled the post, and before Maharashtra keeper EC Sharat Chandran could recover from the uncharacteristic display of intent, the ball was in the net off a deflection from captain Xavier Vijaya Kumar.

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Just a momentary respite from the general tone — soon it was back to business, and the match plodded to a 1-0 end.

More action was expected from the second match of the day, as 29-time champions Bengal took on the Goa side, and though this one ended goalless, it did manage to elicit a few cheers.

Collection of near-misses

Bengal No 13 Sankar Oraon caused a few fumbles in the Goa defence in the first half, but all his attempts were directed straight at goalkeeper Felix D’Souza. The match was defined by a collection of near-misses from both sides, and the 72nd minute will stand out as a painful memory for Denzil Franco and Goa.

The substitute got the ball after a scramble in the box, but he could not take advantage of the all-round — his powerful shot bounced off the crossbar towards the clouds.

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The result, though, was not affected by this interruption as it ended 0-0.

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