Players tussle as Anupam Chetia (in circle) lies on the ground at Dibrugarh outdoor stadium on Tuesday. A Telegraph picture

Dibrugarh, June 24: Green Valley Football Club, Guwahati, edged out last edition’s runner-up 2 Assam Special Reserve Force (ASRF), Diphu, 1-0 in the violence and controversy-marred second semi-final of the C.K. Sarma invitation football tournament to set up title clash with defending champions Oil India Limited, Duliajan, today.

In today’s match Green Valley’s Nigerian recruit Abraham Goodluck scored the all-important goal for his team in the early minutes of the match.

Green Valley was lucky as Abraham’s sharp left-footer was deflected from 2 ASRF defender Dipen Mech’s foot to enter the net, catching goalkeeper Pabitra Swargiary by surprise.

Down by one goal, the 2 ASRF men grew impatient to find the equaliser, but were taken aback by the sharp attacks by the Green Valley strikers.

Some of the moves made from the right flank by right out Anupam Chetia was could have proved dangerous, however, poor coordination upfront rendered them useless.

Trouble started in the middle after referee Nirod Phukon gave marching orders to ASRF defender Lakhyajit Konwar for a very rough tackle.

Konwar had intentionally brought down Green Valley’s Anupam Chetia in the 20th minute of the match.

The referee’s decision angered the ASRF men and many of them chased the referee. Officials of the organisers — Dibrugarh DSA — had to intervene to restore normality.

The match had to be halted for 10 minutes to cool down the tempers of the players and a section of the spectators.

After resumption of the match, both the teams tried their best to score but failed largely because of poor performance of the upfronts and lack of understanding among the strikers.

OIL had defeated 9APBn, Barhampur, 4-3 in a tiebreaker on Monday to enter the final of the tournament. The match had ended in a goal less draw after which the tie-breaker method was applied to decide the winners of the match.

For OIL, Monoj Boro, Zoidin, H.L. Ruata and Biplob Sonowal scored while Durga Boro’s shot was wide. For 9APBn, Jaganath Rai, Romen Sowli and Dipak Ghataur scored while Uttam Rai and Amulya Das failed to net the ball. Both the shots were brilliantly saved by the experienced OIL custodian Jitu Chetry.