Sport - Football   

Spirited Pondicherry sinks Andhra

By Our Special Correspondent

Pondichery's Dinesh tries to outwit Andhra Pradesh's Latheef in the Under-21 South Zone phase of the National Football championship at Tiruchi on Monday.

TIRUCHI APRIL 14. Beaten by a huge margin by Tamil Nadu the other day, Andhra Pradesh sunk to a new low when it went down 1-3 to Pondicherry on Monday in the South Zone phase of the under-21 National football championship being held here.

For a team which usually concedes points to others in the zone, rather than grab them, the win today must easily be one of the best in the history of Pondicherry football.

In a way the performance was not entirely unexpected considering the exuberance shown by the team in the championship. The surprise was only that the verdict should have come against Andhra Pradesh, the last year's qualifier and which ironically now is out of contention.

Not that the win has catapulted Pondicherry in the race but at least on paper the team, with one more match to go, can raise a tie on points. For the moment however the focus is on its dream show.

Indeed Dussol Sudhagaran will remember this match long. It was his over-45-yard curling essay that broke the 1-1 stalemate before Victor Raphael made the issue safe. The way he jumped for joy, Sudhagaran himself was as stupefied as the beaten goalkeeper Abdul Khader when the 73rd minute long ball from near the touch line swung tantalisingly to beat the latter's outstretched right hand.

With all his colleagues rushing to him deliriously, Sudhagaran emerged a hero. When Raphael in the 77th minute scored a crushing right footer off substitute Ravi's through pass, Khader's cup of woes was full.

The contest itself started on an exhilarating note, thanks to Pondicherry players' unbridled enthusiasm. Give them the ball and they will be off like an arrow, no matter that the weather can be so energy-sapping.

In fact in the third minute when Andhra had hardly settled down Pondicherry won a flag kick, which Mathivanan struck with such perfection that Gobi could rise and head in to put his team ahead. Andhra skipper Tennyson's rejoinder soon, a 40-yard dipper, looked good for the equaliser but the ball after striking underneath the crosspiece failed to cross in. Just about this time, Gobi and Purushothaman drove another scare at the Andhra end even as exchanges evened out before Nithiya restored parity off a Hannan flag kick in the 36th minute.

Pondicherry's best moment came thereafter for a fairy tale finish though it must be admitted Andhra spurned several good opportunities through poor ball control.

Tuesday's match: Tamil Nadu v Karnataka.

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