PUNE, April 27: Both Range Hills and Deccan XI `A' won their respective encounters in similar fashion today. The matches of both the teams were extended to the tie-breaker to ascertain the winners. While Range Hills settled the issue with a 7-6 aggregate to be the first team to enter the semi-final stage, Deccan XI `A' nosed ahead by a 5-4 sudden death verdict, making it to the last eight of the Anthony (Maharaj) Memorial football tournament at the Military ground, Ghorpuri.The tie between Deccan XI and Youngsters proved to the most dramatic one of the day's proceedings. The match witnessed a number of raids by either teams. For Youngsters, Durand Engineer spearheaded the attack, even though he missed at least two good scoring chances. In the first session his attempt from the right whizzed over the horizontal and in the second session he gifted the ball to the keeper from a ten yard strike. Combining with him were Patrick D'Souza, Atul Gaikwad and Ray Tucker who were seen at the rival goal frequently.Deccan XI too had their share of `hits and misses'. Their key forwards, Rohit Ghag and Nilesh Natu, came close to scoring but made a hash of positive moves thanks to a robust defence formed by Sydney D'Souza and Jerry Das. Regular time saw the teams deadlocked, with neither one succeeding in scoring. The tie-breaker was applied yet again to settle the issue.The subsequent event proved to equally exciting, both teams locked at four goals apiece and the dreaded sudden death, eventually going Deccan XI's way.For Deccan XI `A' Rohit Ghag, Sameer Chavan, Mahesh Naik, Sandesh Bohite and Mandar Tamhane were the goal getters while Youngsters scored via William Lobo, Ray Fernandes, George Fernandes and Patrick D'Souza.Though the earlier encounter hogged the limelight, the first quarter-final of the day rose to exciting levels as well. Range Hills and Thundercatz `A' were involved in a rapid paced encounter. Two goals in each session by both teams produced a 2-2 result in regular time.Seven minutes into the game, Thundercatz initiated a stunning move which saw Dhiraj Bali slam home. The leaders, however, had only some brief moments to rejoice. Not perturbed by the deficit, Range Hills persisted with their attack and two minutes later restored parity. Santosh Khude knocked in from close range after charging in with the ball. No further additions came in the first-half of play. Returning for the post- breather session, the to-and-fro battle continued. Range Hills depended on Santosh Khude, Shabir Sayyed and Ajay Sapkal. Into the last ten minutes of play, the excitement rose again. Range Hills surged ahead in the 41st minute. Ajay Sapkal converted following a flag kick from the left taken by Shabir Sayyed.This time Thundercatz equalised four minutes later via Venkatesh Santhanam forcing the game into a deadlock.In the tie-breaker, Range Hills clinched the issue, scoring via Avinash Balan, Krishna Swami, Santosh Khude, Shabir Sayyed and Sri Krishna Gaikwad. For Thundercatz Prashant Ghadge, Ravi Unni, Vineet Johnny and M Rahul netted in.Today's fixtures: (Q/F): 3.30 p.m: Indrayani S C, Dehu Rd vs Youth Club, Khadakwasala; 4.45 p.m: VOBA vs Knights XI.
