Kerala lifts up Santosh Trophy by defeating 32-times winner Champions Bengal
Kolkata, April 2: By defeating Champions Bengal with royalty, Kerala lifted 72nd Hero Santosh Trophy. In a thrilling final at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Sunday, Kerala held their nerves to beat defending champions and 32-time winners Bengal via penalty shootout.
In a thriller which saw several twists, Kerala took the lead through Jithin MS in the first half before the home side levelled through their captain Jiten Murmu. Kerala had one hand on the trophy when Vibin Thomas scored, but Tirthankar Sarkar curled in a freekick through the hands of goalkeeper Midhun in the dying moments to force the penalty shootout.
The Kerala shot-stopper made amends as he saved from the first two takes — from Ankit Mukherjee and Nabi Hussain Khan — while captain Rahul, Jithin Gopalan, Jestin George and Seesan S converted to give Kerala a 4-2 win in the penalties and their first title in 14 years.
As the game was heading towards a penalty shootout, there were a couple of twists in the tale. It was all Bengal in the early periods of the game, but the match was turned on its head by a moment of individual brilliance from Jithin. Kerala’s midfield enforcer Seesan played a gem of a ball to play through the winger on the right. Jithin’s pace was too much for Sourav Dasgupta to catch up with as he rolled the ball through the legs of Bengal goalkeeper Ranajit Majumder to make it 1-0.
Locked 2-2 after extra time, Kerala 'keeper Mithun V gave impressive tie-breaker, to help his side win 4-2.