7th Loktak Trophy Final: TRAU down SSU via tie breaker to bag championship title
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, January 19 2014 : TRAU downed SSU via the tie breaker in the final of the 7th Loktak Trophy Football tournament today at the ground of Moirang Multi-Purpose Higher Secondary ground by a margin of 6 goals to 5 .

Evenly matched, fortunes fluctuated between the two teams on either side of the break, though it was the team from Kwakeithel which took the lead in the 29th minute of the 80th minute match in the first half.

The goal came off a defence splitting pass from midfielder L Momocha who managed to catch a couple of SSU defenders on the wronf foot and let off a crisp pass that found an unmarked Ng Ronald who had no problems in slotting home the ball.

Lemon break was taken with TRAU leading by a solitary goal.

After the break, both teams went on the offensive with some players resorting to rough tackling.

The referee however did a commendable job in keeping the match under control.

Pressing hard for the equaliser, the efforts of SSU ultimately paid off, when Ng Rahul of TRAU committed a foul well inside the territory of his team in the 62nd minute.

The referee did not hesitate in awarding a free kick to SSU, which was taken by midfielder Jolly.

Jolly managed to break the wall of TRAU with a well measured kick that found attacking midfielder Sachidananda well positioned.

Deftly controlling the ball, Sachidananda had little difficulty in beating the TRAU custodian hands down and bring his team to parity.

After the equaliser, both teams went on the hunt for the winning goal, but regulation time ended with both teams tied at one goal apiece.

Tie breaker had to be resorted to decide the match.

TRAU players kept their cool and converted all the five takes, with L Ratan, Dhananjoy, K Raghumani, H Premananda and L Bikram finding the net while Jolly of SSU who took the second kick could only manage a weak shot to the right of the custodian, which was easily saved.

For SSU, Kiran, Kh Oken, Daniel and Dewan converted their kicks.

Apart from the trophy, the winner walked away with Rs 50,000 as cash prize, while the runner up, SSU had to settle for Rs 30,000 .

The fair play award went to ZFC, Churachandpur while the best goalkeeper award was bagged by K Anand of TRAU.

The top scorer title went to Th Premkumar of TRAU.

The tourney was sponsored by NHPC (Loktak Power Station.

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