Goa beat Meghalaya, enter semifinals

Anil Datt

Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 16

Goa bounced back from being a goal down to overcome Meghalaya 2-1 in Group A and grab a place in the semifinals of the 73rd National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy at Guru Nanak Stadium here today.

With this victory, Goa secured 10 points from four matches. Services, also on 10 points in Group A, had already made it to the semifinals.

Despite coming into the match as favourites, Goa fell behind in the 30th minute when Meghalaya’s Donbolrang Nongkynrih converted a penalty.

Stung by the surprise goal, Goa unleashed an array of attacks and succeeded in cancelling out the lead 10 minutes later through Chaitan Komarpant.

In the 58th minute, Goa scored their second goal through Victorino Ferenandes and held on to seal their third win in four matches.

In the first match of the day, Delhi too had to fight back from being a goal down as they beat Odisha 2-1 to climb to third in Group A with six points. This was Odisha’s fourth loss in four matches, and they are stranded at the bottom of the table.

Odisha’s Chandra Muduli scored the opener in the 10th minute. However, they couldn’t hold on to the lead for long as Delhi’s Ayush Adikari found the target in the 25th minute.

Ayush converted a penalty in the 66th minute to score his second and give Delhi the lead, which they managed to protect.