Tamil Nadu registered their second consecutive victory in their cluster VIII match of the 63rd National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy played at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai as they defeated Himachal Pradesh 11-0 on Tuesday.
Tamil Nadu dominated the match right from the start and never allowed Himachal Pradesh to have a control of the game. Tamil Nadu had earlier defeated Rajasthan 7-0 in their opening match on Sunday.
Hosts took the lead in the 8th minute as their last match hero PC Riju once again put them ahead. Soon to follow was Muthu who helped the victors increase the lead in the 11th minute.
With already 2-0 up in the 11th minute Himachal Pradesh knew it was not going to be easy for them and in the 22nd minute Kulothungan took the advantage of being left unmarked and found the back of the net to give his team a 3-0 lead.
Just before the lemon break Kulothungan was back in action as he scored his second goal of the evening to take the control of the game beyond Himachal Pradesh and extend the lead to 4-0.
The start of the second half was no different as the first half as Tamil Nadu never allowed Himachal Pradesh to settle down. In the 63rd minute Muthu scored his brace and three minutes later it was Riju who found the back of the net to extend the lead to 6-0.
Last match hero Riju who had scored a hat trick was once again at his best in the 79th minute he found the ball past Himachal Pradesh custodian to find the back of the net for third time in the evening.
With a 7-0 TN lead, Himachal knew that they had to suffer a humiliating defeat and in the 74th minute Muthu found the net for the third time in the evening. With 16 minutes remaining Tamil Nadu found the back of the net three more time with Riju, Kulothangan and F Jegan to pocket three points.
Source: the-aiff.com
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Tuesday 26 May 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.