Playing with plenty of grit and determination, Karnatak Sports Club overcame Managalore Blues Sports Club 7-6 via the tie-breaker to advance to the final of the 10th Late Adv. A.R. Kudrolli Memorial Knockout Football Tournament 2016, conducted by The Karnatak Sporting Association and played at the KSA ground, Cross Maidan. The match finished 2-2 at the end of normal time.
In the keenly contested and gruelling semi-final encounter, the two teams went on the offensive from the start. They fought tooth and nail to try and tried to wrest the advantage as a result there was plenty of anxious moments in front of goal at either end.
The Karnatak outfit snatched the lead when their consistent striker Valentine Pereira found the net in the 15th minute. But their joy was short-lived as six minutes later Mangalore Blues managed to find the equalizer through Vinesh Salian and the first half ended tied at 1-all.
In the second period, Mangalore Blues grabbed the advantage when opportunistic scorer Lekhraj Kotain against the run of play hit the target in the 56th minute. Karnatak SC fought on and managed to neutralize Mangalore’s lead through Dinesh Pawar’s strike at the death and take the match into the penalty shootout.
In the tie-breaker, Karnatak proved better marksmen converting all five attempts through Valentine Pereira, Lawrence Betgeri, Prakash Rathod, Adnan Yalgar and Sagar Salian to seal the win and a passage to the summit round. Mangalore Blues could only convert four of their kicks with Lekhraj Kotian, Brendon D’Souza, Royston Veigas and Aaron Machado finding success.
In the final Karnatak SC will take on the winners of the second semi-final between Star of Canara SC and Udaya SC which is scheduled to be played later this week.
Results (semi-final round): Karnatak SC 7 (Valentine Pereira 2, Dinesh Pawar, Lawrence Betgeri, Prakash Rathod, Adnan Yalgar, Sagar Salian) beat Mangalore Blues 6 (Lekhraj Kotian 2, Vinesh Salian, Brendon D’Souza, Royston Veigas, Aaron Machado) via the tie-breaker. Full-time: 2-2.