Punjab begin campaign on a high note

Anil Datt

Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, April 9

Punjab overcame a tough Assam side to begin their campaign with a 2-0 victory on the second day of the 73rd National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy at Guru Nanak Stadium here today.

In the Group B match, Punjab dominated in the midfield, with Rajbir Singh and Navjot Singh combining well to make forays into the rivals’ citadel. 

Skipper Taranjit Singh and Mohd. Asif also looked dangerous but Punjab could not breach the Assam defence.

The hosts finally managed to break the deadlock in the 45th minute when Assam skipper Subhakshan Rabha scored an own goal following a goalmouth melee.

A similar trend followed in the second half with Punjab controlling the ball but failing to score till almost the end of the half. Punjab doubled their lead in the 87th minute when Rajbir scored a brilliant goal.

Karnataka steal a point

Earlier, in the match played in the morning, Karnataka scored an injury-time equaliser to hold Maharashtra to a 2-2 draw.

After wasting a couple of scoring chances in the initial moments, Maharashtra surged ahead in the 14th minute through midfielder Rohan Harish Shukla. Karnataka levelled the scores in the 30th minute when forward Manvir Singh found the target. After the change of ends, Maharashtra again went ahead as forward Sanket Salokhe scored a brilliant individual goal after dodging past a couple of defenders in the 54th minute.

Karnataka went all out to equalise and eventually managed to puncture the Maharashtra defence in the 92nd minute. M Nikhil Raj, who came in as a substitute for Manvir Singh, thumped the ball home to break the Maharashtrian hearts.

Wednesday’s fixtures 

• Odisha vs Meghalaya (8:30am)
• Delhi vs Services (4pm)