Sudden death for Kerala Cops

BANGALORE, June 14: Pappachan, hero of many a Kerala Police victory, turned `villain’ when he missed a penalty in the sudden-death period and a grateful Mohammedan Sporting scrambled into the quarter-finals of the KBL Federation Cup Football Tournament, with an aggregate 7-6 scoreline, here, today.

Pappachan, who had put Kerala Police ahead in the third minute, twisting past stopper Aslam Parvez on a long lob by Kurukesh Mathew, placed the penalty to the left of goalkeeper Arpan Dey, who took off like a missile to block the waist-high shot.

The Mohammedans got their equaliser in injury time when Sanjay Majhi headed low into the goal.In the tie-breaker, which followed a barren 30-minute extra-time, Debashis Hazra, Senapati, Nigerian import Cassius Owino and Subir Ghosh scored, while a feeble try by Amitav Ghosh was easily parried by Chacko. For Kerala Police, Sreenivasan, Edison, Pushparaj and Asokan netted while Mathew’s shot was saved by Dey.In the sudden-death, Dey and Ohidul Islam converted but for the Kerala Cops only Sasi was successful as Papachhan’s spot-kick was blocked by Dey.