Jharkhand scored a 3-2 victory over Orissa in their cluster IV match of the 63rd National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy at Tiruchirappalli on Wednesday.
Jharkhand had lost their opening match to Goa by a solitary goal and a victory here has certainly given them a hope of advancing onto the next stage.
Jharkhand dominated the match right from the start and took the lead in the 20th minute. Subodh Kumar found the back of the net as he received a cross inside the box and was left unmarked. Two minutes later Suresh Kaundi extended the lead to make it 2-0 for Jharkhand.
Orissa hardly had any chance and never managed to have a shot at the goal. Jharkhand got couple of more chances but their shots were either off target or were stopped by the Orissa defenders.
With a 2-0 lead in the first half the start of the second half witnessed Subodh Kumar getting into the scheme of things once again and extending the lead to 3-0 in the 62nd minute.
Jharkhand were taken aback as in a counter attack Gyana Ranjan Samal reduced the deficit in the 64th to make it 3-1. As the match progressed Orissa started playing a composed game and found the back of the net once again in the 77th minute through Ashok Das but of to no use as Jharkhand pocketed three points.
Source: the-aiff.com
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Wednesday 27 May 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.