Host Bengal huffed and puffed against a gritty Delhi before coming up with a late equaliser and forced a 1-1 draw in the opening encounter of the Group-B quarterfinal league of the 64th senior National football championship for the Santosh Trophy here at the Salt Lake Stadium on Friday.
Tamil Nadu gave Mizoram a good lesson in counter-attacks, firing in two goals in the second session, to open its campaign with a 2-0 win in the second group-B quarterfinal match of day.
Bengal midfielder Jayanta Sen found the equaliser in the 88th minute with a powerful pile-driver after Delhi went into the lead in the first session off a brilliant header from Tuishim Mashangva.
Tamil Nadu held off its overtly aggressive opponent with a quick-passing game and enjoyed a greater say in the midfield. Though forwards C.S. Sabeeth and P.C. Riju made probing runs into the Mizoram box they fumbled with their finishing.
Tamil Nadu's attacked looked more determined after the change of ends and it found the lead in the 63rd minute. Sabeeth made no mistake with the opportunity that came off a P. Sudhakar cross.
Insurance goal
R. Rajesh fetched the insurance goal seven minutes later when he neatly collected a through-pass from the midfield and finished with a grounder past the Mizoram custodian Danny Lalrohlua.
The three points Tamil Nadu earned from the win put it on top of the group league standings while Bengal and Delhi remained second with a point each.
Delhi appeared to be enjoying the advantage of having gained good match experience during the cluster stages as it started on a more confident note compared to the host.
Playing its first encounter of the tournament Bengal, which is one of the seeded sides in the quarterfinals, appeared a bit rusty and struggled to string together attacks effectively against its resolute opposition.
Going into the game as the favourite, the 29-time champion Bengal attacked on breaks but the tentativeness of its strikers — Tarif Ahmed and Robin Singh — in the striking zone spoiled its hopes.
Having successfully staved off the offensive, Delhi started venturing out on the break and caught the home side napping in the 40th minute. Mashangva, who was lying unmarked inside the Bengal box, came up with a sharp header to divert home a cross from Vikas Rawat.
Tentative attack
Bengal struggled to shrug off its tentativeness in the attack in the second session as Delhi continued to hold on to its slender lead. Bengal coach Shabbir Ali tried to tidy the attack introducing Shankar Oraon in place of Tarif Ahmed in the second half but that hardly helped in fetching the equaliser.
Delhi custodian Pronoy Roy stood in the way of Bengal's aspirations making a few good saves as Robin Singh, Arnab Mondal and Jayanata Sen came close to scoring at different points in the second half.
Finally, Sen ended Bengal's wait fetching the equaliser with an angular grounder that beat Roy all ends up.
The results: Quarterfinal league, group-B: Delhi 1 (Tuishim Mashangva 40th) drew with Bengal 1 (Jayanta Sen 88th); Tamil Nadu 2 (C.S. Sabeeth 63rd, R. Rajesh 70th) bt Mizoram 0.
