New Delhi: Egged on by a sizeable crowd at the Ambedkar Stadium here, MSP Higher Secondary School, Kerala, rallied to beat Little Angel Paradise English School of Manipur 4-2 on penalties and become the first team from the state to qualify for the U-17 Subroto Cup final.
The Kerala boys, playing in their maiden semifinal, took time to find their feet and fell behind in just the sixth minute when Prikanta directed the ball in the net for the Manipur school.
MSP struck back through Salman K in the 19th minute to restore parity and then kept things tight to take the match to penalties.
The pressure of the tie-breaker and the vociferous crowd support for Kerala seemed to affect the boys from Manipur as P Rabindro and skipper Sunder missed their first two shots and handed the match to the opposition. (PTI)