Teg Bahadur football: Cagey affair sees Deccan get past Kothrud into semis

PUNE A lacklustre clash between Deccan XI and UKM Kothrud FC in the quarter-finals, saw the prior emerge victorious by a single goal which came inside a minute in

PUNE A lacklustre clash between Deccan XI and UKM Kothrud FC in the quarter-finals, saw the prior emerge victorious by a single goal which came inside a minute in the 19th edition of the Guru Tegh Bahadur Football Tournament at the College of Engineering Pune (COEP) ground on Friday.

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Striker Yash Ghoghare received the ball from Atharva Kulkarni straight after kick-off and Deccan XI were off the mark after a move that involved three passes and required 25 seconds to score.

Deccan XI march into the semi-finals and will now face CMS Falcon FC, who eliminated the defending champions BEG in the other quarter-final encounter.

Early goal - Deccan charge!

Deccan XI caught Kothrud completely off-guard with the kick-off. Ghoghare rolled the ball to Yash Pathare who then passed it to Kulkarni, who played a through-ball down the centre, splitting the Kothrud defence with Ghoghare on-side. The striker calmly slotted the ball past the keeper to give Deccan a surprisingly quick lead in the match. As Kothrud were shaken after the goal, Deccan refused to ease the forward press as they advanced to launch another attack.

The next chance fell to Deccan’s winger Vajra Bhagwat, who cut into the Kothrud penalty area from the left. The winger opted to go for goal himself as he unleashed a side-footed strike aiming for the near post, but saw his effort fly just wide of goal.

The possession stats were dominated by Deccan in the first half. Kothrud failed to register a single attempt on target in the first half.

Cagey game

There was a massive drop in the tempo of the game in the second half. Deccan, who were constantly pushing Kothrud back into their box decided to sit back, while Kothrud were also precarious with their passes and build-up. Deccan’s lackadaisical performance at the start of the second half, allowed a nervy Kothrud side to get comfortable on the pitch for the first time in the match. Kothrud slowly ventured forward, and were awarded a free-kick on the left flank, near the corner flag.

As the strikers and wingers were seen making good runs through the middle and on either flanks, the ball was stagnant in midfield due to clumsy passing and poor control. The passes which were whipped out towards the forwards were either too heavy or too weak.

Kothrud attack

Anup Shah, in defence for most of the game, came very close to equalising. Shah prowled forward for a corner and managed to get his head on the ball in a very crowded box. His valiant effort skimmed the upright as the ball went out for a goal-kick. Shortly after that, Kothrud came dashing forward again. This time Shah crossed the ball in from the left wing. The ball missed every defender and fell to Nikhil Karnavat.

Karnavat attempted to take the shot on the half volley, but could not judge the bounce as he swung his right leg and completely missed the ball, as Kothrud failed to capitalise on another opportunity.

Desperately in search for an equaliser, Kothrud defenders started making forward runs. The efforts, however, did not result in a goal as Deccan held on to the narrow lead till the full-time whistle.

From the bench

“It was a game of two halves. We were better in the first half with our attack and passing. Whenever we got the ball, we were scooping it into the final third. Unfortunately, we could not get more goals, but it was a very difficult game. This victory means a lot to us and hopefully we can do this in the semis.”

- Rahul Kadlag, captain, Deccan XI

“We had a lot of possession in the second half. We were dominating and aggressive. But we failed to convert the chances which were presented to us. We missed many of our key players today because it was a weekday fixture. Still, we should have scored at least levelled the game and taken it into penalties.”

- Nikhil Karnavat, captain, Kothrud FC