Sub-Junior National Football: West Bengal are champions

West Bengal team members hold the trophy after winning the 37th sub-junior national football championship title at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday. West Bengal beat Odisha 1-0 in the final.

West Bengal took home the 37th sub-junior national football championship title as they defeated Odisha 1-0 in the summit clash at the Ambedkar Stadium in the capital on Saturday.

Kartick Golder’s 88th-minute winner proved to be the difference between the two sides, in a cagey match which saw the teams put some attacking football on display.

West Bengal began on an attacking note catching Odisha off-guard, and Golder breezed past two defenders only to shoot way over the bar in the first minute itself.

Shaking off a complacent start, Odisha came back into the game as they started dominating possession and controlling the proceedings.

In the 18th minute, Odisha fostered a golden opportunity to take the lead as a low cross from the left flank found Samir Kerketta in the penalty box. Kerketta, instead of bundling the ball home, failed to tap in from handshaking distance.

The match intensified as the teams tried to take the game by the scruff of its neck, but neither succeeded.

Odisha came close once again in the 34th minute when Bekey Oram’s out of the boot free-kick from the edge of the penalty box rattled the cross bar.

After a goalless first half, Odisha created an opportunity early in the second half when a cross from the right flank found Kerketta’s head, but West Bengal custodian made an easy save.

In the 58th minute, Bekey Oram’s shot from distance earned a finger touch save from the West Bengal goalkeeper.

Two minutes later, Hassan Ali Molla went on a solo run and with only the Odisha custodian to beat, Molla miscued his shot and struck the crossbar.

In the dying minutes though, West Bengal went ahead when Golder scored a screamer as his shot from 25 yards out curled into the back of the Odisha net leaving the goalkeeper wrong-footed.

West Bengal allowed no harm to their decisive lead as they denied a number of shots on target till full-time and lifted the crown in style.