Kulothungan scored the opening goal as Muthu and Riju scored a brace each as Tamil Nadu defeated Haryana 5-0 in their Pre quarter final match four at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai to enter into the quarterfinal round on Sunday in the 63rd National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy.
Tamil Nadu carried on their attacking style of game as Kulothungan was left unmarked inside the box and his shot found back of the net to give his team a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute.
With a 1-0 lead there was no looking back for the hosts as they kept on attacking at the opponents den. Just before the lemon break Muthu showed his skills as he dribbled past two defenders to get the ball past Haryana custodian to give his team 2-0 lead.
With a 2-0 lead in the first half the script in the second half was no different as Haryana failed to get their acts together. They never had any control of the game as Tamil Nadu dominated the second half as well.
With three minutes into the second half Rjiu added his name to the scoring sheet to extend the lead to 3-0. As the match progressed Haryana tried hard but their strikers failed to convert the chances that came their way.
In the 78th minute Muthu scored his second goal of the evening and three minutes later Riju scored his brace to take the lead to 5-0 to help Tamil Nadu win the match comfortably 5-0 and enter into the quarter finals.
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Sunday 31 May 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.