Bengal maul Manipur

Chennai, March 29: Bengal, twenty-eight times champions and winners for the past five years, host Tamil Nadu and Kerala entered the semi-finals of the Bharat Petroleum 55th National football championship for the Santosh Trophy.In Udhagamandalam, Bengal outplayed minnows Manipur 4-1 to top the Group A table. Captain and star striker Bhaichung Bhutia 29th minute, Amit Das 48th, Dipendu Biswas 85th and Jo Paul Ancheri, substituting for Raman Vijayan 90th were the architects of the Calcutta team8217;s win.

For Manipur, Wangkhuper Kom scored the only goal in the 74th minute. In Chennai, Tamil Nadu, who had last made it to the semi-final in 1993 at Coimbatore, spilled many chances before defeating Delhi, who could manage to force just two clear chances, both in the second half. For Tamil Nadu, up by a goal at half time, skipper Syed Sabir Pasha, who played a seemingly selfish game, opened the account with a header in the 14th minute. The hosts managed one more in the 85th minute through substitute SamsonSelvakumar.Bengal will take on one of their traditional rivals Kerala, the former champions, in the first semi-final on April one. Tamil nadu await the winner of the concluding quarter-final league match tomorrow between last year8217;s runner up Goa and Karnataka.

Bengal , facing a must-win situation, gave a stupendous display to the delight of the large crowd. Bhutia, in the company of Vijayan, tilted the balance in Bengal8217;s favour making some dangerous moves with Amit always at hand providing deft openings. However, the agile Manipur keeper Noren Singh thwarted the attempts of the marauding duo.

A defensive lapse led to the opener when a measured lob from Falguni Dutta deceived defenders Jatin Singh and Uttam Singh. Jatin tapped towards the goalkeeper but Bhutia made a piercing run to tap the ball in.

Amit who moved ahead of Bhaichung as the star striker was constantly shadowed by Uttam Singh, scored a marvellous solo, from an acute angle near the flag. Manipur scored the only goal when Kom netted homea rebound, but Dipendu Biswas headed in Ancheri8217;s cross to make it 3-1. Ancheri completed the rout.