Shafeel P.P. scored with a spectacular pile-driver to help Services beat Goa by a solitary goal in the final to lift the Santosh Trophy for the seventh time in the long history of the country’s premier inter-state senior men’s competition.
Goa, the favourite ahead of the final, could not rise to expectations as Services latched on to Shafeel’s 67th-minute long-range strike and successfully preserved the lead till the end.
The first-half at the Golden Jubilee Stadium ended goalless as the attackers at both ends failed to find the goalscoring touch. There was no dearth of action as both sides adopted an open approach, producing some impressive raids, which were either neutralised in the box or went wide for the want of precision.
AS IT HAPPENED: Santosh trophy 2023-24 final highlights
The second-half came alive with more concentrated efforts from Services, which started probing the Goa box, showing purpose with its attacking moves. Goa goalkeeper Antonio Da Silva made a crucial save in the 50th minute to make up for the mistake of his defensive colleague Deeshank Kunkalikar, who miscued a clearance to let Services right-half Subham Rana have a crack at the goal.
Services kept pressing for the lead and found it in the 67th minute when midfielder Rahul Ramakrishnan set up Shafeel P.P. outside the Goa box, and the Services right-back answered with a powerful grounder that whistled past a diving Da Silv and rattled the back of the net.
Goa went on the hunt for the equaliser and came close to finding it on at least three occasions. But the Goa efforts were denied by the Services defence, which stuck to its task and found the clearances at the right moment.
The best one came in the injury-time (90+3 minute) when Deeshank found substitute Joshua D’Silva with a cross. The latter’s header beat the Services goalkeeper Abdul Kadir, but Pradeep Kumar cleared from the line to save the day for Services.
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