Tamil Nadu scored thrice in six minutes as they defeated Manipur 3-1 in the quarter final league match of the 63rd National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy, at the Nerhu Stadium, Chennai, on Saturday to enter into the semi-finals.
Hosts started the match on an attacking note and in the 4th minute a cross from Suresh Kumar had Bengkok heading it over the bar. Two minutes later Manipur had their chance but Bishishwor Singh shot straight to Tamil Nadu custodian VP Sathish Kumar.
Manipur’s best chance to score came in the 7th minute as Subhas Singh dribbled past two defenders but his shot posed no threat for Sathish Kumar. With two shots taken at Tamil Nadu’s goal, the hosts pulled up their socks and in the 27th minute Riju shot was handled by Manipur defender Thomas Singh inside the box and immediately referee Andrew Shekhar awarded Tamil Nadu a penalty.
Muthu capitalised on the situation well caught Manipur custodian Lokeshwor Singh on the wrong foot to give his team a 1-0 lead in the 29th minute. Tamil Nadu strikers Riju and Muthu combined well upfront and three minutes later the strikers had an open net chance but both of them failed to find the back of the net.
Muthu was back in action in the 34th minute as he scored his second goal of the evening as Thomas Singh’s back pass to Lokeshwor Singh was intercepted by Muthu who dribbled past the Manipur custodian to extend the lead to 2-0.
A minute later an unmarked Muthu scored his hat trick as he received a cross from Mohan Raj and the striker chipped the ball over Lokeshwor Singh as Tamil Nadu took a 3-0 lead.
Manipur were completely off color and there was no coordination between their strikers-midfielders and defenders allowing Tamil Nadu strikers to have shots at their goal at regular intervals as the match entered into the lemon break with Tamil Nadu leading 3-0.
The start of the second half had Manipur pulling up their socks and playing more aggressively. In the 55th minute they pulled one back to reduce the margin to 3-1 as Bijen Singh 30 yarder right footer had Sathish Kumar diving in vain to the near post.
Playing a much more composed game in the second half Manipur got ample chances after reducing the lead but they failed to convert the chances that came their way as the match ended with Tamil Nadu pocketing three points.
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.