DAMMAM, 10 May — A dominant second-half performance helped Blue Moon to brush aside the challenge of Rising Sun as they eased to a 3-0 victory in the Eastern Province Football Tournament here at Dammam Saptco Football ground last Friday. With this victory they entered in the final.
However, Rising Sun were the better side in the first half and were unfortunate not to be ahead at the break. They started very well with captain Kunchuttan looking particularly dangerous and he almost scored a brilliant goal in the 13th minute when he skipped past two challenges before scooping his shot over the bar.
Blue Moon took the lead against the run of play in the 25th minute through a penalty kick got in favor of them. K.M.Naser beautifully netted the penalty kick and placed the team ahead by 1-0. Captain K.V. Abid looked certain to score in the 28th minute but a last-gasp tackle by Rising Sun defender K.P.Naser denied him.
The second half was a completely different story with the Blue Moon dominant throughout. In the 42nd minute they increased the lead through K.V.Salih when he fired a beautiful shot from the left flank. Salih struck again in the 50th minute and enhanced the lead to 3-0. Rising Sun goalkeeper C.B.V.Mujeeb made many brilliant saves.
Rising Sun made many attempts and they nearly went ahead in the 44th minute when S.M.Shihab’s cross found K.K.Sahir Ali but his fierce shot was well gathered by goalkeeper Assu Vellayil. Although Shahid Rasheed missed a gilt-edged chance in the closing stages, the match was so exciting.
In today’s final Shining Star will play against Blue Moon for Bassam Rolling Trophy sponsored by Bassam Taufik Al-Tamimi. Shameem Backer (KFA referee), E.V.Kareem and A.P.Zakariya supervised the match.
