Government Senior Secondary School from Alakhpura, Bhivani edged past 14 BN NCC Manipur 2-1 today to book a title clash Chanambam Thambou Higher Secondary School, Manipur, in the 56th Subroto Cup International Football Tournament's Junior Girls (Under-17) at the Ambedkar Stadium.
In the title clash on Tuesday, both the finalists can draw enough inspiration from London Olympics bronze medal winner, MC Mary Kom, who will be the chief guest.
In the first semifinals action, Chanambam Thambou Higher Secondary School, Manipur defeated Sports School, Nagaland, 6-4 (2-2) via a penalty shootout to become the third school from the state to enter the finals.
As for the Haryana team, this was their second final entry, having done it once before in 2013. But today's win by the Alakhpura girls was all due to the brilliance of captain and international Nisha Bagria. She had a complete control on everything, including marshalling her midfield, the wings and her opportunistic strikes when the chips were down.
The NCC girls were on a high soon after resumption of the second session as the teams failed to goal in the first, despite Nisha trying a couple of long-rangers. Within five minutes of the second half, W. Ranjibala Devi sent in a superb volley after defender Ravina Yadav failed to clear the ball.
Goalkeeper Neelam was squarely beaten by the flight of the ball which dipped in even as Neelam jumped to collect it. Stung by the goal, Haryana went wayward before they cooled down to concentrate on business.
A Minakshi Jakhar on the right reverse flicked a ball from right for Nisha to place it neatly beating the stretched hands of Julia Devi, an India international. In the remaining 15 minutes, none scored despite some good chances and the issue went to extra-time.
In dim light, the teams played as aggressively as they did during regulation but it was Nisha's commitment and perseverance helped goal the winner in the sixth minute of the extra time. The loose ball should have been cleared by NCC's defender M.Naoibi Devi but perhaps couldn't smell the danger of a lurking Nisha.
However, hard the NCC girls tried in the second half of extra time, the Bhiwani girls defended stoutly to make their second final entry.
