Chandigarh beat Rajasthan

Chandigarh, March 19: As contests they were nothing much to enthuse about but the sheer intensity made up for that in the Bharat Petroleu...

Chandigarh, March 19: As contests they were nothing much to enthuse about but the sheer intensity made up for that in the Bharat Petroleum Santosh Trophy for National Football Championship at Chennai, according to information received here. Tripura, beaten fair and square by Tamil Nadu in their opener, came up with a face-saving 2-1 win over Madhya Pradesh in Cluster E. The evening belonged to Chandigarh, their superiority pronounced in every frame even as they made a little heavy weather of a 3-1 verdict against Rajasthan Cluster H at the Nehru Stadium on Friday.

Not much separated Tripura and MP gamewise with the teams bent on exercising their midfield mobility. What made the little difference was in Tripura8217;s ability to encash the two clear chances. MP, came into their own in the last quarter, the motivation coming in the form of a goal.

But Tripura, having smelled a win were in no mood to give it away.

Liton Majumder8217;s gentle nudge did the trick past the half-hour for Tripura8217;s first goal. Like the famous commercial advertisement, he got one after the break too, Barua taking on the feeding role.

MP grouped themselves in an effort to try some variation. The succour came from substitute Ganguly who pounced on a weak clearance to bang it in past the hour.

For the second straight day, Chandigarh came up with a workmanlike show to keep their quarterfinal hope alive. Agreeably, Rajasthan were no match but they could well rue for not having pumped in some more goals. In the event of a draw with Railways, the goal equation will have the say.

The resigned looks of Rajasthan were a giveaway after the hammering from Railways on Thursday. To run into an in-form Chandigarh could not have made them feel any better. Merely keeping the ball in play and hope for the best is a sure recipe for disaster. Rajasthan must have found that as Chandigarh with one eye on the scoreboard came up with any number of moves.

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The two Kanwars were helped by Rajiv Rattan. The sore factor was that the defence was seen in poor light on the odd occasions when Rajasthan threaded moves from their limited resources.

Abdul Majid8217;s alarcity helped them pull one back late in the day but by then the damage had been done, Varinder8217;s strike close to half-time had that lazy elegance as the supportive factor. Goalkeeper Tan Singh came to narrow the angle but Varinder came up one better in the thinking game. Viney was not to be denied his due when an open goal beckoned him, early in the second half. Rajiv8217;s effort a little later came in as a perfect dessert.