Former champions Karnataka and Maharashtra scripted authoritative wins in their respective concluding cluster league matches to become the first two teams to progress to the pre-quarterfinals in the 64th senior National football championship for the Santosh Trophy here on Monday.
Karnataka defeated Jharkhand 6-1 in the only cluster I match while Maharashtra made short work of Tripura 4-1 in a cluster II encounter. Both the sides became respective cluster champions with all-win records and in the process set up a pre-quarterfinal clash.
The other cluster II encounter, where Andhra Pradesh beat Chgandigarh 2-1, became inconsequential as only the cluster winners progress to the next round.
In a clash of youth against experience Karnataka gained from the presence of seasoned campaigners, who helped quell the challenge of a young Jharkhand side.
Jharkhand matched Karnataka strength to strength for the first half-an-hour of the match. But its resistance gave away soon after as Karnataka broke the deadlock making to most of some set-piece opportunities.
Veteran of many battles Xavier Vijay Kumar gave Karnataka the break off a corner in the 31st minute before Ravinder Singh capped a fine solo effort to bring Jharkhand on level in the 34th minute.
R.C. Prakash utilised another corner in the first half injury-time to get Karnataka back into the lead just before the break. After change of ends, Karnataka did even better pumping in four goals to end Jharkhand's hopes. J. Murali made it 3-1 converting a 46th minute penalty before J. Satish Kumar (72nd) continued the scoring finishing with an angular long-ranger. Substitute Ngurneilal launched a late charge and found the mark twice — in the 73rd and 88th minutes — to complete Karnataka's scoreline.
Maharashtra found the target twice in each session for its third successive win of the tournament.
Darren Caldeira drew first blood in the 11th minute before Surojit Bose doubled the lead in the 19th minute. Firing home a double strike Anees Koralyadan (48th & 62nd minutes) extended Maharashtra's dominance in the second session.
Kiran Chetri (78th) pulled one back for Tripura in the fag-end of the match. Maharashtra became the cluster II topper with full nine points from three wins.
The other cluster II match saw Duty Kumar Mahato (21st) and W. Vijay Kumar (58th) finding the target once in each half to give Andhra Pradesh a 2-0 cushion. Harkeert Singh gave Chandigarh a consolation goal pulling one back in the 71st minute.
The results:
Cluster I: Karnataka 6 (Xavier Vijay Kumar, R.C. Prakash, J. Murali, J. Satish Kumar, Ngurneilal 2) bt Jharkhand 1 (Ravindra Singh).
Cluster II: Maharashtra 4 (Darren Caldeira, Surojit Bose, Anees Koralyadan 2) bt Tripura 1 (Kiran Chetri); Andhra Pradesh 2 (Duty Kumar Mahto, W. Vijay Kumar) bt Chandigarh 1 (Harkeert Singh).
