When the two met in the last Santosh Trophy in Odisha, Haryana had whipped Chhattisgarh 6-1.
On Saturday evening, a desperate Chhattisgarh forced a strong Haryana to a 1-1 draw in the 67th Santosh Trophy National football championship at the Nehru Stadium here and kept alive its hopes of entering the quarterfinal league.
Goa makes it
The draw helped former five-time champion Goa enter the quarterfinal league from the three-team Group D while the other berth in this qualifying round I will be decided on Monday.
Haryana’s Pankaj Sura (10th minute) and Chhattisgarh’s Wasim Raja (32nd) scored the goals. But there were chances aplenty for both sides in the match.
Midfielder Sura opened Haryana’s account in the 10th minute. He grabbed a loose ball after a defender slipped, raced down the middle and found the back of the net.
Five minutes later, Haryana had another chance to increase the lead. Pardeep ran smartly through the left wing and relayed the ball to Vivek, who dodged past a couple of defenders and danced his way into the box. He sent a cross to Abhishek whose shot deflected off a defender. Vivek’s attempt to score off the rebound however bounced off the goalkeeper.
Equaliser
Chhattisgarh’s equaliser came off a smart move between Ravikant and Wasim Raja. Raja foxed the defenders with a wall pass with Ravikant and then outwitted the Haryana goalkeeper Macchinder by placing the ball into the far corner.
The result (qualifying round I, Group D): Haryana 1 (Pankaj Sura 10) drew with Chhattisgarh 1 (Wasim Raja 32).
Sunday’s match: West Bengal v Delhi (qualifying round I, Group A).
Keywords: Santosh Trophy, national football championship
