Orissa Police won the title in the FAO First Division Football League with an emphatic 3-1 win over Radhagobinda Club in the floodlit final at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack tonight. Jacob Lama opened for account for Orissa Police in the 26th minute, while Hrusikesh Behera and Abhimanyu Pandey consolidated the lead in the 51st and 77th minutes. Radhagobinda Club reduced the margin in the 55th minute through Alfred K Jaryan.

This was the second title triumph in three years for the police team, which bagged its previous title in 2009. Good strategy was the secret to success for Orissa Police. ``Since the underfoot condition was a handicap and our opponents used to play with short passes, we planned to play aerial football. The strategy worked wonder and we won by a huge margin,`` said Mohammad Shahid Jabbar, the coach of the police team.

State Sports and Higher Education Minister Badri Narayan Patra handed over the trophy in the presence of Orissa Olympic Association secretary Asirbad Behera. Shekh Kamaluddin (Jay Durga Club), S Pritam Kumar (Radhagobinda Club), Sidhartha Sankar Puruseth (Orissa Police) and Alfred K Jaryan (Radhagobinda Club) received individual prizes as best goalkeeper, best defender, best mid-fielder and best forward respectively.

Host Football Association of Orissa felicitated 13 veteran footballers on the occasion. They included Paramananda Khalko, Bharati Mishra, Gyanendra Mishra, Deba Prasad Singh, Rabindra Kumar Arookh, Giridhari Lal Nayak, Krushna Chandra Behera, Shekh Aziz, Sudam Charan Sahoo, Manmath Nath Singh, Bijay Das, Yunus Bux and Suvendu Patra.
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PHOTO: Players of Orissa Police celebrate after winning the FAO First Division Football League title in Cuttack on August 28, 2011.