Tournament debutants Dharwad DFA secured a spot in the finals of the inter-district football tournament after an emphatic 5-2 win over Kodagu at the Bangalore Football Stadium here on Monday.
Recovering from two-goal deficit, the Group ‘B’ toppers fired five goals including four in the last 12 minutes to set up a title clash with hosts Bangalore on Wednesday. Dharwad remain unbeaten in the tournament and have also topped the goal chart in their group with 13 goals .
Kodagu, who had lost all their matches before their last group tie, shocked Dharwad with two first half goals from Srinivas (17th minute) and Sherin (27th). Three minutes after conceding the second goal, Dharwad missed a golden opportunity to reduce the margin as Christopher Doss missed a penalty.
However, forward Tsiring opened the account for Dharwad in the very next minute. Kodagu led 2-1 at half-time.
Doss made up for his earlier mistake by netting the equaliser off a penalty conversion in the 68th minute. Enosh Dokka found the target for Dharwad two minutes later to take his team ahead for the first time in the match. Tsiring (77th) and Karan Kumar (79th) sealed the match in Dharwad’s favour with two more goals in quick succession.
“Our aim was to enter the final and we have achieved that. Now, I have asked the boys to enjoy the game and try their best,” said an elated Dharwad coach Irshad Makkubhai, who is wary of the tough challenge ahead in the title clash against Bangalore.
In the last Group ‘B’ match, Belgaum DFA edged past Dakshina Kannada DFA 4-3 to post a consolation win and finish behind Dharwad in the group with seven points. Amit Marekar with a hat-trick (22nd, 56th, 76th) and Ulagappa Madar (46th) found the net for the winning side, while Arun (37th, 65th) and Jalal (52) beat Belgaum custodian Zahid Shaikh.