It seemed odd, the deafening roar that rocked the Bakshi Stadium came at an insignificant moment in the first Santosh Trophy quarter-final match between Punjab and Services, and it grew louder and louder before the reason was spotted. As it turned out, the rapidly rising decibel levels had nothing to do with the action on the ground.

The Jammu and Kashmir team were making an appearance an hour before they were due to play their match, and a few keen eyes had whispered news of the sighting around the stadium. And this when the players were doing nothing more than a quick warm-up.

If that brought a cringe at the attack on the eardrums, it was merely a prelude. It was only after Services dealt defending champions Punjab a 2-1 loss, with goals from S Raleng and L Ruatafela in the first match of the day, did the crowd swell to noisier proportions.

Defence torn apart

Perhaps they wished to conserve all energy for their match of the day, but today, their cheers couldn’t carry J&K past the finish line. In fact, they didn’t even manage to come close. Kerala tore apart the home team’s defence, but simply could not silence the voices that came together for 90 minutes.

The whistles and applause that rang out in the 42nd minute when Ishfaq Ahmad got J&K level at 1-1 was louder than the polite applause all three Kerala goals received put together.

A couple of overjoyed fans also decided to celebrate their side’s lone goal by running out on to the field, causing a brief interruption.

... contd.