Punjab come from behind to beat Odisha

Chandigarh, March 20

Former Champions Punjab rallied from a goal down to beat Odisha 2-1 in their opening match of the 72nd Santosh Trophy at the Sailen Manna Sports Complex, Howrah, on Tuesday.  

After a barren first half, Odisha took the lead in the 62nd minute through Arpan Lakra, but Sarbjit restore the parity for Punjab in the 70th minute. An own goal by Odisha’s Rudra Pratap Pradhan then gave Punjab all the reasons to celebrate.

Both the teams started with caution, but it was Punjab who held the upper hand in the midfield but lacked coordination with the strikers, as Baltej Singh and Prameet Jhutty failed to deliver the goods. 

Punjab had their first chance to go ahead in the 13th minute but defender D Srinath came to Odisha’s rescue with a goal-line save.

The side then almost took the lead in the 24th minute through Bijay Behra but Punjab custodian Moses Anthony made a diving save to deny the young striker.

Punjab although were more organised in attack but could not penetrate deep into rival box as Odisha defenders kept their strikers under check. 

Prameet, who was closely marked, had the best chance of the half but his attempt was collected by Odisha keeper Soumya Ranjan Das off a pass from Gurtej Singh in the 37th minute.

Meanwhile, Odisha came close to scoring twice late in the first half but Moses thwarted their attempts as the first half ended scoreless.

Odisha pushed Punjab on the backfoot in the second half and were all over the rival box but failed to find the target as Moses came out with good saves to deny Bijay and Arpan from scoring. 

Odisha’s persistent efforts finally bore fruit when Arpan found the back of the net just past the hour mark from Sunil Sardar’s pass. 

With the side trailing 0-1, Punjab showed urgency in front of the rival goal and managed to score the equaliser eight minutes later;  skipper Sarbjit nodding from a corner to bring his side on level. 

Thereafter, it was all Punjab as the north India outfit created havoc in the Odisha box. The young Odisha defenders made some brilliant clearances to frustrate the Punjab attackers. 

Odisha’s luck finally ran out in the 82nd minute when Rudra Prasad scored an own goal while trying to clear Jagdip Singh’s goal-bound attempt. Though, Odisha had a number of chances to restore the parity in the remainder, Punjab defended valiantly to grab all three points at stake. — TNS