Services are the champions of the 73rd Santosh Trophy with a 1-0 win over Punjab. This is their sixth title overall and it needed a wonderful strike by Bikash Thapa to secure the title.
90+5' BLOCK! Punjab push Services to the very end and Parmjit has a go from distance. But Vishnu VK punches it out for a corner and denies Punjab the equaliser.
83' SAVE! Vishnu VK prevents a definite equaliser with Navjot Singh's corner flicked to the goal by Parmjit Singh. The shot loops over and drops into the goal but Vishnu VK tips it over to save his team.
80' Bikash Thapa of Services is all by himself in the box and receives the throw-in by Nitin. He finds Anoop Pauly, who tries to drop a cross to the far right post, which is cleared away.
76' OFF THE BAR! Punjab thought they almost had the equaliser there but Vikrant Singh's long-ranger bounces off the crossbar and goes out for a goal-kick.
75' Mohammad Danish intercepts a ball in his own half and goes on his own. Spotting Bikash Thapa up front, he plays it through only to realise that the Services forward was in an offside position.
69' Sushil Shah swoops into the Punjab box but is forced out because of the pressure by Sukhjit Singh. Shah, who received a card just a minute ago, tried to score from a tight angle near the touchline, which flows out.
61' GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAL!! What a horrifying gaffe by the Punjab defender. Harjinder, the captain of the Punjab team, takes a bad touch at the edge of the box with Lallawmkima lurking around. The Services forward pounces on the loose ball and passes it across to Bikash Thapa, who slots it into the bottom-left corner with a wonderful shot.
50' Punjab's Paramjit has great vision, tries to set up the forwards with a couple of through-balls. Vishnu collects on the first occasion, while Taranjit Singh can't get to it in time the second time around.
45+2' The best chance so far. Bikash Thapa is sent through by Benno BA and the Services forward chips it to the far post for Harikrishna AU. The Services midfielder, however, mistimes his header and fails to make anything of the opportunity.
44' The Punjab defenders had a few chances to thwart. Harjinder Singh first has to head a cross by Anoop Pauly from the left and then deal with a chipped shot by Herojit Singh that was going nowhere.
35' Anoop Pauly nearly puts the ball into his own net while trying to deflect a cross. Soon after, Bikash Thapa carries the ball into the Punjab box but cannot get a shot in.
31' And just when Punjab were getting a foothold in this match, Bikash Thapa threatens on the right again with a shot. But Navjot Singh gives him a fight and prevents the Thapa assault.
30' Punjab have made quite a few in-roads into the Services box but they are yet to manage a decent shot to test Vishnu VK. Services, on the other hand, need to maintain calm while moving up for the attack.
22' SIDE-NETTING! Bikash Thapa fights and squeezes past Punjab's Navjot Singh to get into a dangerous position inside the box but his attempt only finds the side-netting.
20' Sukhjit Singh plays it long for Vikrant Singh but it takes a deflection from a Services player to gift Punjab a throw-in. The long throw is flung to the centre and needs some glove work by goalkeeper Vishnu VK to keep the scoreline intact.
16' Twin chances for Punjab and they should have done better to take the lead there. Navjot Singh first plays it to the centre from the left and Suresh Meitei gets it away. From the other flank, Vikrant Singh drops it deep but Nitin of Services heads it out for a corner.
10' Play is stopped briefly as Bikash Thapa of Services needs treatment. Outside the pitch, Punjab's Amandeep Singh continues to be tended to by the physios.
4' SHOT! Nitin of Services drops the ball from a throw-in into the centre and it's whipped away by the Punjab defence. Lallawmkima then goes for a volley from the edge of the box but it's blocked by Md Asif.
1' Kick-off! Punjab, in yellow, playing from the left to the right. Services are decked in blue. And your officials for this game are Harish Kundu (main referee), Kishan Chand Joshi and Vijay Shankar.
Hello and welcome to Sportskeeda's Live Coverage of the Santosh Trophy final between Punjab and Services. Up next, we'll have the line-ups of both the teams.
Services' march to the final: The team, coached by Parshuram Salwadi, edged Karnataka on penalties after the regulation time score read 1-1. Lallamwkima struck the opener for Services and substitute Nikhil Raj came up with the equaliser in the second half. In the shootout, Vignesh Gunashekar and Manoj Swamy Kannan missed their spot-kicks for Karnataka.
Punjab's march to the final: The eight-time champions, coached by Harjinder Singh, overcame Goa 2-1 in the semifinal on Friday. Jaspreet scored the opener before Ronaldo Oliveira equalised close to full time. But Harjinder Singh tapped home an indirect free-kick in the final minute to seal the win for Punjab.
Two heavyweights in the National Championship, Punjab and Services, lock horns for the Santosh Trophy at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana on Sunday.
Punjab, who are eight-time champions of the Santosh Trophy behind Bengal (32 titles), are the favourites going into the clash because of the home support they enjoy.
Punjab have reached the finals 15 times but their form in the summit clash, of late, has been worrying. Back in 2015, Punjab and Services faced off at the same venue with Services beating the hosts 5-4 on penalties.
Punjab is the stronger side in open play but Services are defensively solid, having conceded just 3 goals in the 5 matches that they have played in the final round.
The biggest strength of Punjab is their will to fight until the last moment and it's no surprise that under coach Harjinder Singh, son of former India international Inder Singh, Punjab have pulled off two last-gasp victories.
The first came against Karnataka in a 4-3 win in Group A, while the second was the 2-1 win over Goa in the semifinals.
However, should the match go to penalties, then the advantage could be with Services, who progressed to the final after a penalty shootout win over Karnataka.
“We have more flair than them. We’ve already beaten them on a few occasions before. But we need to be careful. They have also beaten us in the 2014-15 Santosh Trophy Final, so we cannot take them lightly," Bikramjit Singh, Punjab's assistant coach, said before the match.
“They have very good coordination in attack. We brought the whole team to the stadium to watch their semifinal against Karnataka and explained to them how they generate their attacks. So we have made our plans for them accordingly,” he continued. When and where to watch: The Punjab vs Services Santosh Trophy final will be streamed live on the AIFF's facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheIndianFootballTeam. The kick-off is at 3.30 pm.
