In a keenly contested battle of the pre quarter final match 3 between Railways and Manipur of the 63rd National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy, played at Thiruvallore on Sunday, Manipur played an attacking game right from the start and went on to win the match 4-1 to enter into the quarter final round.
The victors never allowed their opponents to take a control of the game and drew the first blood in the 19th minute as Subhash Singh was left unmarked in the left flank and his powerful shot left Railway custodian Ehtesham Ahmed diving in vain.
As the match progressed Manipur started having better bail control and kept on attacking at the rival den.
In the 40th minute Riesangi Vashum was in action as thebal rebounded off Railways custodian Ehtesham as he tried to save a shot from Subhash Singh.
Vashum utilised the situation well and tapped it in to give his team a 2-0 lead.
With a 2-0 lead as the match entered into the lemon break, Manipur could sniff the victory.
And as expected in the 79th minute they extended the lead as Vashum headed the ball in to give his a team a 3-0 lead.
Railways bounced back immediately as in the 80th minute they were awarded a penalty and Nalanda Chakravarthy utilized the opportunity to reduce the lead to 3-1 but it was too late for them as Manipur won the match comfortably.
Goa scored a convincing 3-0 victory over Mizoram in their Pre quarter final match two at Tiruchirappalli, Chennai to enter into the quarterfinal round on Sunday.
Goa started the game on a positive note and played an aggressive game.
The victors could have taken the lead in the 15th minute but Fredy Mascarenhas missed the penalty.
As a result of the missed penalty Fredy was replaced by Jaquim Abranches and the substitution worked well for the Goan outfit.
In the 43rd minute Abranches displayed some superb football skills as he got the ball past Mizoram custodian to give his team a 1-0 lead with match entering into the lemon break.
Goa completely dominated the match and never allowed Mizoram to have a shot at their goal.
Though Mizoram got couple of chances early on but their strikers failed to convert them.
The start of the second half was no different as Goa extended the lead in the 58th minute through Marcus Mascarenhas.
Marcus had a solo run and Mizoram defenders never posed a threat to his challenge as he got the ball past Mizoram custodian to make it 2-0 for Goa.
Five minutes later Marcus was back in action as he scored his brace for the evening to seal the fate of the game in his teams favour and help Goa enter into quarter finals.
Goa will now play Karnataka in the quarter final match on 3rd June at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
Kerala's run in the in the Championship came to an end on Sunday as they lost to a solitary goal to Maharashtra in their Pre quarter final match 1 at Coimbatore.
Maharashtra with this victory has now advanced to the quarter final stages.
The lone goal of the match was scored in the 83rd minute by Sampath Kumar Kuttimani.
Both the teams played a defensive game in the first half and the game was played mainly in the mid field area and as a result there were hardly any shots taken at the goal.
Both the custodian had hardly any work to do under the bar and were having an off day till the 83rd minute before Maharashtra took lead and sealed the fate of the game in his teams favour.
With first half ending without a goal being scored the start of the second half was no different and both the teams had equal possession and domination of the game.
Maharashtra like their previous encounter slowly pulled up their socks just after an hour mark and started attacking at the Kerala goal.
In the 83rd minute Kuttimani got the only chance of the match which he capitalized well to give his team a 1-0 lead.
The Kerala defenders were involved in a confusion and utilizing the opportunity well was Kuttimani who headed the ball in after he received a cross from inside the box to dash the hopes of Kerala outfit to make it to the quarter finals.
Kulothungan scored the opening goal as Muthu and Riju scored a brace each as Tamil Nadu defeated Haryana 5-0 in their Pre quarter final match four at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai to enter into the quarterfinal round on Sunday.
Tamil Nadu carried on their attacking style of game as Kulothungan was left unmarked inside the box and his shot found back of the net to give his team a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute.
With a 1-0 lead there was no looking back for the hosts as they kept on attacking at the opponents den.
Just before the lemon break Muthu showed his skills as he dribbled past two defenders to get the ball past Haryana custodian to give his team 2-0 lead.
With a 2-0 lead in the first half the script in the second half was no different as Haryana failed to get their acts together.
They never had any control of the game as Tamil Nadu dominated the second half as well.
With three minutes into the second half Rjiu added his name to the scoring sheet to extend the lead to 3-0.As the match progressed Haryana tried hard but their strikers failed to convert the chances that came their way.
In the 78th minute Muthu scored his second goal of the evening and three minutes later Riju scored his brace to take the lead to 5-0 to help Tamil Nadu win the match comfortably 5-0 and enter into the quarter finals.
Quarter Final League Round
Group A: Punjab ,West Bengal , Manipur (Winner PQF 3), Tamil Nadu (Winner PQF 4)
Group B: Services ,Karnataka , Maharashtra (Winner PQF 1), Goa (Winner PQF 2)
Quarter Final League Round :Venue :Chennai (JN Stadium)
02.06.09 � Punjab Vs Manipur - Group A
02.06.09 � West Bengal Vs Tamil Nadu - Group A
03.06.09 � Services Vs Maharashtra - Group B
03.06.09 � Karnataka Vs Goa - Group B
04.06.09 � Manipur Vs West Bengal- Group A
04.06.09 � Tamil Nadu Vs Punjab - Group A
05.06.09 � Maharashtra Vs Karnataka - Group B
05.06.09 � Goa Vs Services- Group B
06.06.09 � Manipur Vs Tamil Nadu - Group A
06.06.09 � Punjab Vs West Bengal- Group A
07.06.09 � Maharashtra Vs Goa - Group B
07.06.09 � Karnataka Vs Services- Group B
The winners and runners up team from both groups will qualify for the semi finals.