SANTOSH TROPHY

Santosh Trophy qualifiers: Kerala win, by playing to not lose, against Railways

There was nothing spectacular about Kerala's start in pursuit of an eighth title in the Santosh Trophy. Substitute Muhammad Ajsal scored the solitary goal in the 71st minute as Kerala edged Railways to win their opener in Group H qualifiers at the EMS Corporation Stadium in Kozhikode Wednesday afternoon.

On paper, Kerala were hands down favourites to top the group, also comprising Pondicherry and Lakshadweep. Pondicherry posted a 3-2 comeback win earlier on the day, and Kerala were expected to entertain and win. But coach Biby Thomas Muttath had adopted a pragmatic approach intended to not lose. On the contrary, Railways had seen the game as what it was, a potential group decider. If this had been club football, Kerala played like an away side at home.

"It was a safety first approach," said coach Biby Thomas at full-time. "They are a good side; they could have scored tonight. We needed a goal-line clearance to prevent them from scoring. The aim was to not lose the tie because if we got a draw, we can still qualify, but a defeat was always going to make the task difficult," Biby said.

It was Manoj M, who slid in to clear a goal-bound effort off the line from Railways striker Sufiyan Shaikh. The defender had earlier stood his ground to thwart Kamalesh from whipping his left foot. Barring left-back Muhammed Musharaf, the Kerala backline remained mostly inside their own half.

"Except Sanju (captain), every other member of the backline today joined the squad late. They had less than four days to be prepared," Biby said.

The majority of Kerala's starting XI, including Nijo Gilbert, who assisted Ajsal's winner, and Gani Ahmed Nigam, the playmaker, had been busy with Super League Kerala, the franchise-based league that ended recently.

Gilbert was often isolated on the right wing as the overlap wide midfielders so often expect from full-backs weren't forthcoming on his side. Gani, the local star, did quite a heavy lifting; he was required to be the creative force and the ball-winner in one go. He could seldom do justice to either roles.

Kerala's Hajmal had been the busier of the goalkeepers, and his acrobatic effort to keep out Johnson Joseph Mathews from range, with the scoreline so precariously poised at 1-0, was just one of the many notable saves on the night. In their defence, Kerala, too, missed a few chances. Ajsal could have scored a hat-trick in the final 15 minutes, but he kept firing wide.

In the end, Kerala got the three points and will be aiming to add another when they host Lakshadweep on November 22. Biby has assured that Kerala won't be as pragmatic in the finals once they get there. Kerala have won the Santosh Trophy seven times, with the last win coming in 2021-22 at Manjeri in Malappuram.