Guwahati, April 21: Even as the floodlights came on for the first time at the Nehru Stadium here, Kerala trooped out, a dejected lot. Their hopes had been dashed 3-0 by Maharashtra in the quarter-final league of the 54th Santosh Trophy Football Tournament.All goals came in the first-half, the opener coming in the second minute with Abbas Ali Rizvi adding another to his name, taking his tally in the quarter-final league to three. There was the day's quota of the red card too. Dhanesh, Kerala's skipper today, picked up his second yellow in the 62nd minute.In the second match of the day, the first at this level to be played under floodlights in entire North-East, Railways held Bengal to a goalless draw. Bengal are through to the semi-finals as the second team from Group II after Maharashtra.Maharashtra played a relaxed game and did not allow the situation to overwhelm them. They needed just a draw while Kerala had no options but to go for a win. The wet and and heavy ground surprisingly did not effectMaharashtra as much as Kerala. The southern team were finding it difficult to keep their balance. In fact, the defenders were particularly in trouble, not quite able to read the bounce properly.Kerala started off with the intentions of attacking and managed to enter the Maharashtra box in the first minute itself. In a swift counter-attack, the Maharashtra goalkeeper Partha Das found Ratan Singh with a long clearance on the left. The Manipur boy, after playing a wall pass with Everatto Cardoz, put Abbas Ali Rizvi through just beyond the centre-line in the Kerala half. The Air-India striker dodged past Kerala stopper back Sivakumar and ran unchallenged to score the first goal for Maharashtra. It was an unexpected beginning that appeared to leave Kerala unnerved.Andrew Louis got the second goal in the 30th minute through a move which the Kerala defence would like to forget. Anthony Fernandes received a pass from Henry Picardo, dribbled his way through the Kerala defence and took a mis-directed shot whichwas headed for the left flag post. Louis came sliding from nowhere and managed to get a foot to it. The ball rolled into the goal even as goalkeeper Firoze Sherief dived with ample time at his disposal.Anthony Fernandes scored the third goal for Maharashtra at the stroke of half-time. This time it was Dinesh Nair at the goal having replaced Sherief soon after the second goal. Tapash Ghosh, overlapping on the right received a pass from Fernandes and hit into Kerala defender Mohammed Shafique. The ball came back to Fernandes, who scored without too much problem.The scoreline did not change in the second half although Kerala made a few attempts. They had the major share of exchanges but could not enter the Maharashtra box. Maharastra managed to penetrate the Kerala territory more often with counter-moves. Without skipper V P Shaji today, Kerala ended the quarter-final league without being able to score a goal.
