TN, Railways score victories

UDHAGAMANDALAM, March 20: Jammu and Kashmir, riding on their luck and a pair of brilliant goals by Deepak Kumar, staged a splendid rally ...

UDHAGAMANDALAM, March 20: Jammu and Kashmir, riding on their luck and a pair of brilliant goals by Deepak Kumar, staged a splendid rally to beat Mizoram 2-1 in a cluster A league match of the Santosh Trophy football tournament at the Breeks Stadium here.

Jammu, reduced to ten men after losing their central defender Arun Malhotra through a red card in the 53rd minute, finally got their act together to emerge the winners. Deepak struck in the 33rd and 71st minutes after Ramzisinga put the Mizoram ahead as early as in the 9th.

TN in quarters

Chennai:The ever bridesmaid Tamil Nadu got to their immediate objective of making it to the quarterfinal league, taking Madhya Pradesh in their stride 4-1 from Cluster C on Saturday in the Bharat Petroleum Santosh Trophy football championship. Indian Railways scored a 2-0 win over Andamans & Nicobar (Cluster H). It will be a virtual knock-out situation when they take on Chandigarh on Monday. A draw will suffice for Railways, enjoying a better goaldifference.

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Andamans caused the early flutter but then watched in awe once Railways settled down. A Dydicus snap effort had Railways goalkeeper Raghuveer Khanolkar scurry back to get his finger tips for a reflex save. It was a close call but on the positive side, it helped Railways to wriggle out of any complacency.

MP fade out

The way MP began it looked an even contest on cards. TN were not exactly rattled but it took some time for them to regain their composure. Basumatary shook the TN defence early. A shot on the run grazing the second post looked to be the shape of things to come.

Violence mars match

Coimbatore: Fireworks of a different kind lit up the Nehru Stadium. The spectators were forced to witness rows and blows between Sikkim and Pondicherry, which ended in a goalless draw.

A sliding tackle midway through the second session by Murugan of Pondicherry brought down Sanjay Singh of Sikkim. However, he did not stop there but went a step further and booted the player, whichprecipitated matters. With even the reserves supporting their team from the sidelines the situation went out of control till the cops were called and took control of the situation.