TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Riding on a first half strike by Dipen Thapa helped 10-man Southern Command dethrone holders Central Command 1-0 to clinch the Army Inter Command Football Championship, at 3MTR ground, Navelim, Saturday.
Southern Command players made a flying start and caught the Central Command off guard. R.K Singh was shuttered as he picked up second yellow card for using abusive language against referee in the second half.
All charged up Southern intensified their attacks and spirited Dipen slotted past the Central Command goalkeeper in the 35th minute off cross from Ketan Bhosale.
Spurred by the early lead, Southern tormented the rival defence with well orchestrated raids and pushed holders Central to back foot.
Strikers Jotin Singh and Dipen worked in tandem with medio Ramu to put the rival defence into disarray.
Central were expected to come back strongly after change over but Southern defence was vigilant enough to deny them passage despite having short of one man in the 55th minute.
Central survived some anxious moments but Southern strikers shots either went straight into the safe hands of rival goalkeeper or wide.
Southern nearly made it 2-0 but striker Jotin rasping volley was well saved by Central goalkeeper after he being fed by Ramu from the right. Southern almost increase the tally when Jotin’s volley was well blocked by rival goalkeeper.
With time running out, Central almost equalized but Anil Ban Roy rasping shot was well thwarted by rival defender.
Eastern Command, South Western Command and Western Command finished third, fourth and fifth place respectively.
The match was supervised Hemam Jembo Singh and was assisted by R Lalrammawa and Raghu Kumar.
Brigadier Harvijay Singh, Commandant, 2 Signals Training Centre, Goa was the chief guest and gave the trophy and certificates.
In all, five Commands participated in the tournament.
