Intense Pursuit: Manipur's Nilkumar Singh (left) tries to dribble past Punjab's Gurwinder Singh in the Santosh Trophy on Thursday. Photo: Sushanta Patronobish
Punjab beat Manipur 6-4 (2-2) in the tie-breaker in a pre-quarterfinal match at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Thursday and reached the quarterfinal league of the Santosh Trophy.
The regulation 90 minutes saw both sides locked 1-1 while the situation was repeated in the 30 minutes of extra-time which ended 2-2. The tie-breaker finally broke the deadlock with the Punjab custodian Paramjit Singh making a couple of saves to see his team through to the next stage.
For Punjab Harpreet Singh, Parveen Kumar, Randeep Singh and Gurpreet Singh found the target, while Manipur custodian Lalit Thapa blocked the attempt of Balwant Singh. On its turns Manipur found only Samananda Singh and Syed Farid finding the goal while the shots of Naoba Singh and Subhas Singh were saved by Paramjit, who made it 4-2 for Punjab in the tie-breakers.
Kerala posts win
Former champion Kerala, after a shaky start, got past rookie Uttarakhand 3-1 in a cluster VII encounter of the 64th senior National championship for the Santosh Trophy here at the Salt Lake Stadium on Thursday. In another match of the same cluster, Assam blanked Himachal Pradesh 10-0.
In cluster VIII, Railways downed Bihar 7-1 while Orissa got the better of Mizoram 3-1 to complete the day's league fixtures.
Kerala players found it difficult to adapt to the artificial surface, but soon after dominated proceedings in midfield with good passing skills.
Kerala had the first taste of attack in the 25th minute when Sakeer rattled the crossbar off a rasping long-ranger. The former champion shot into lead when substitute N. Sumesh made the most of a goalkeeping error by Uttarakhand's Naveen Chetri. Uttarakhand equalised in the 58th minute when Veer Singh Negi volleyed home a floater from the right. But Kerala fought back when Sakeer found the mark off a corner in the 65th minute. Substitute Javed made it 3-1, nodding home a cross from the right by Justin Stephen.
Big win for Assam Rifles
Assam Rifles striker Akum scored a double hat-trick to guide the team to a huge win against Himachal Pradesh at the Mohun Bagan ground. Bulu Zigdung scored a brace while Chirod Das and S. Warry accounted for a goal each to complete the tally.
The results:Pre-quarterfinals: Punjab 6 (2) (Balraj Singh, Amandeep Batra) bt Manipur 4 (2) (W. Ngouba Singh, Reisangmi Vashum) in tie-breakers. Cluster VII: Kerala 3 (Sumesh. N., Sakeer M.P., Javed O.K.) bt Uttarakhand 1 (Veer Singh Negi); Assam 10 (Akum Ao 6, Bulu Zigdung 2, S.Warry, Chirod Das) bt Himachal Pradesh 0. Cluster VIII: Railways 7 (Anthony Soren 3, S. Fridde 2, Suresh Kumar, Mohammad Moazzam) bt Bihar 1(Jiten Lomar); Orissa 3 (Sheikh Mustaqim 2, Maheswar Das) bt Mizoram 1 (Zaidumawaia Hmar).