Karnataka sailed into the elite quarterfinal league beating a strong Maharashtra 1-0 in the pre-quarterfinals of the 64th senior National football championship for the Santosh Trophy here at the Salt Lake Stadium on Wednesday.
The match went into extra-time as the teams were locked goalless in regulation time. The decider came in the second minute of extra-time when striker Ngurneilal found the mark off a solo effort.
Maharashtra squandered many chances that came its way because of its poor finishing. K. Anees came close to scoring twice in the first half. His first attempt went wide while the second was effectively blocked by the Karnataka custodian Nagendra.
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Maharashtra continued to dominate in the second session as well. Surojit Bose, who came in for an off-colour Alex Ambrose, came close to scoring with a neat header in the 71st minute but Nagendra again made a good save. Karnataka defender B.V. Pradeep came to his team's rescue in the 76th minute when he cleared the ball from the goalline.
In extra-time Karnataka changed the complexion of the encounter when it took the lead in the second minute. Ngurneilal found the mark off an angular drive from the top of the box that beat the lanky Maharashtra custodian Kunal Sawant all ends up.
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Earlier, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim won their respective cluster league matches. Delhi made a good start beating Arunachal Pradesh 3-1 in a Cluster V match at the Salt Lake Stadium. Midfielder Bhuvan Chandra Joshi drew first blood for Delhi with a 30-yard pile-driver in the 19th minute.
Delhi lived dangerously as Arunachal Pradesh tried hard to get the equaliser. But it managed to preserve the lone-goal lead till early in the second session when Vikas Rawat nodded home to put his side 2-0 up.
Arunachal Pradesh pulled one back in the 71st minute when Bamin Tatung scored with a clever lob (2-1). But Delhi enhanced its lead to 3-1 in the 81st minute through Tuishim Mashangva.
In another Cluster V match, Uttar Pradesh beat Madhya Pradesh 3-0. In the only Cluster VI encounter, Sikkim blanked Haryana 4-0 to brighten its pre-quarterfinal chances.
The results:
Pre-quarterfinal: Karnataka 1 (Ngurneilal) bt Maharashtra 0.
Cluster V: Delhi 3 (Bhuvan Joshi, Vikash Rawat, Tuishim Mashangva) bt Arunachal Pradesh 1 (Bamin Tatung).
Uttar Pradesh 3 (Irfan Khan, Tushar Chaudhary 2) bt Madhya Pradesh 0.
Cluster VI: Sikkim 4 (Tshering Lepcha, Vikas Jairu, Birendra Rai, Rupesh Diyali) bt Haryana 0.