After a decent break, the next stage of the Karnataka League began where Star of Canara (SOC) vied for a place in the finals of the tournament while Mangalore Blues and Uchil United SC (UUSC) played for the Goodwill Trophy. On Feb 15, Star of Canara were drawn against a mighty Mogaveera squad and handed them a 2-1 defeat while Mangalore Blues were part of a 1-1 stalemate with Satyavijaya SC.
Star of Canara drew first blood within 5 minutes from kick-off as MS Midfielder Sunil P provided the assist by a neat through pass over the Mogaveera Centre Backs to find Melvin Vaz who had only the keeper to beat and he did so by placing it calmly in the net. However, Mogaveera equalised within 10 minutes courtesy a set piece. In the 2nd half, Ravish D provided an assist to set up the match winning goal for Star of Canara which was scored by Melvin again. A week later on Feb 22, Star of Canara faced their second and crucial game against Karnataka Amateurs. Winning this one would assure them a spot in the finals of the tournament. However, the match ended in a 1-1 draw and it was still not certain whether the Canara outfit or Karnataka Amateurs would qualify as Karnataka Amateurs had a game in hand. Akshay D also starred for Mangalore Blues in the match that ended 1-1 against Satyavijaya SC. Akshay D looked in good form but failed to convert in spite of several attempts on goal. The Blues have a chance to get their hands on the Goodwill trophy with one more game to play.
On the other hand, UUSC played against Bombay Fort on the 1st of March. Uchil United put up a lacklustre performance as they were drubbed 4-0, the worst loss in the season and were out of contention for the Goodwill finale. The next match was played between Karnataka Amateurs and Mogaveera SC which ended 2-0 in favour of the Amateurs and helped them qualify for the final match against Jai Bharat FC through superior goal difference. SOC will now play for the third place in the next few weeks.
The K-League season is still on for some MS Players in SOC and Mangalore Blues and we will keep the updates coming as it happens. It is a good run that came to an end for UUSC players Rohit D, Abhijit S, Ryan T and Leon M. They have scored, assisted and provided good performances for their team during the season. They would be looking forward to another action packed season this year end while the ones in contention will look forward to their games next week.