Mizoram halted the winning run of Maharashtra with a 2-0 victory in a Group A league match of the 68th National football championship for the Santosh Trophy at Siliguri on Friday. Lalnunmawia and Lalsakzuala, two first half substitutes, found the target once each in the second session to ensure full points for the North-East side.
Maharashtra which had moved to the top of group standings winning its previous two outings against Uttarakhand (3-2) and defending champion Services (1-0), failed to keep up the momentum against Mizoram. The first half ended barren following a scrappy encounter as both teams failed to find the rhythm.
Mizoram came back strongly after the break and went ahead in the 68th minute when Lalnunmawia found the Maharashtra net back-heeling a cross from Lalsakzuala.
Mizroam continued the pressure looking to build on the lead and scored the second goal in the 84th minute when Lalsakzuala shot home making the most of a cross from Lalbiakhlua.
Mizoram now has six points from two wins and joined Maharashtra, which has six points from three matches, on the top of the group league table.
Services posts winDefending champion Services downed Uttarakhand by three second-half goals to pick up its first win of the final phase. Jotin Singh, Arjun Tudu and P.S. Sumesh scored for Services. Services tallied three points from two matches while Uttarakhand lost its third successive match.
The results:Group-A: Mizoram 2 (Lalnunmawia 68, Lalsakzuala 84) bt Maharashtra 0.
Services 3 (Jotin Singh 55, Arjun Tudu 66, P.S. Sumesh 70-pen) bt Uttarakhand 0.
