Kerala marched into the main draw of the Santosh Trophy after it topped Group A of the South Zone qualifiers with a crushing 4-0 win over Karnataka at the MDSC Stadium here on Monday.
Striker Usman Ashik struck a brace (8th & 25th), while Joby Justin (70) and Jimshad (74) scored the other goals against a Karnataka side which was reduced to 10 men in the second half.
The host, which only needed a draw to qualify, showed its intent early when captain V.V. Surjith’s booming long-ranger landed on the roof of the net.
Kerala controlled the midfield against a strangely subdued Karnataka.
Kerala went ahead in the eighth minute, after some poor defending, when a Karnataka defender on the left flank failed to clear a long ball from the middle, allowing Kerala’s Suhair to sneak into the penalty area.
But, his shot was parried away by goalkeeper M.P. Thomas. The rebound fell to an unmarked Usman Ashik, who cashed in.
Kerala had a chance to increase its lead when Shibin Lal sent Suhair clear, but was denied by Karnataka ’keeper Thomas.
After some sustained pressure from the host, Karnataka conceded a penalty in the 25th minute when Chetan Kumar brought down Joby inside the box, and Usman converted for his second goal of the match.
Karnataka showed signs of settling down towards the end of the first half, threatening with a few coordinated moves, but the Kerala defence was alert.
Any hope of a comeback was wiped out in the second period when it lost captain Xavier Vijayakumar for a second bookable offence in the 64th minute.
The results: South Zone: Kerala 4 (Usman Ashik 8 & 25, Joby Justin 70, Jimshad 74) bt Karnataka 0.
East Zone: Bengal 2 (Nilkanta Paria 32, Konsham Sana 69-o.g.) bt Jharkhand 1 (Iban Kupar Dohling 82).
