West Bengal dominated the game right from the start and went on to beat Punjab 2-1 in their Group A quarter final league match to enter into the semi-finals of the 63rd National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy, at Nehru Stadium, Chennai on Saturday.
Bengal got a chance in the 1st minute but Snehasish Chakraborthy shot over the bar. The victors were better composed and had more ball possession. Defending champions Punjab had a shaky start and failed to get their passing right. In the 15th minute PC Mahlima header rebounded off the cross bar and was cleared by the Bengal defenders.
Punjab who relied more on counter attacks hardly and any clear shot at the goal and they paid the price for not marking the Bengal players. In the 33rd minute Bengal drew the first blood as Snehasish chipped the ball over Punjab custodian Karanjit Singh after receiving a cross from Suboh Kumar.
A minute later Snehasish was back in action but his shot was blocked by Punjab defender Anwar. With a goal lead Bengal players played confidently and in the 40th but were unlucky. A Lalanpuia cross had Biswajit Saha taking a shot at the goal but this time Karanjit punched it safely.
Two minutes later Bengal could have extended the lead but were unlucky as an unmarked Surajit Bose shot rebounded off the cross bar. But they had a reason to smile at the half time mark as the score card read 1-0.
Defending champions Punjab were a completely different side in the second half as they dominated the proceedings. And in the 54th minute Ravinder Singh cross from the left was headed by Rakesh Masih to find an unmarked P Mahlima whose powerful right footer found the back of the net to give Punjab the equalizer.
As the match progressed Bengal got their acts together and started playing with short passes. It was Lalanpuia who got the Bengal back in the game as in the 84th minute a Surojit Roy cross had Lalanpuia unmarked and the striker got the ball past Karanjit Singh to ensure that they secure a place in the semi-finals with hosts Tamil Nadu.
Source: the-aiff.com
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Monday 8 June 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.