KOCHI: Maharashtra effectively snapped a possible 30th title bid by Bengal as it became the first team to march into the semifinals of the Air India Express-60th Santosh Trophy at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium here on Tuesday. It won the needle match in Group C 2-0 through goals from substitute Reuben D'Souza and Paresh Shivalkar midway through the second-half.

Though Bengal has one more match in the quarterfinal league, it is virtually out of the tournament as Maharashtra is in an unassailable position having won against Services, the third team in the group, on the opening day. Consequently, the Bengal-Services encounter on Wednesday has been reduced to an inconsequential affair.

Slight advantage

Bengal, to start with, looked to have a slight advantage as it built up an organised attack to stretch the Maharashtra defence time and again.

With Sasthi Duley and the overlapping Soumik Dey combining well, there was no shortage of passes for Dipendu Biswas and Rahim Nabi upfront. At the other end, Maharashtra seemed slightly off colour as it failed to rework the magic that had gained a 5-3 verdict against Services.

A brilliant overhead lob from the far right by Chandan Das was completely misread by the Maharashtra custodian Israt Kamal even as he moved away from the goal to collect the ball. This left Nabi with possession and an open net.

However, the Bengal forward preferred a sliding shot when a straight push would have given his side the lead.

Bengal was made to rue the missed chance 10 minutes into the final session when Rueben D'Souza, coming in for an injured Abhishek Yadav, made no mistake while volleying in a through pass from Soccor Velho.

Five minutes later, Maharashtra sealed its position in the semifinals as Paresh Shivalkar took control off a high ball from Steven Dias in the right, trapped it and reduced the Bengal custodian Rajat Ghosh to a mere spectator.

The twin reverses saw Bengal sew up quite a few moves to salvage its pride. But its efforts were not met with success as the Maharashtra players, one by one, got into a defensive mode and strengthened the noose around the 29-time champion.

Lucky win

Later in the day, Karnataka kept its hopes alive with a lucky solitary goal win over Tamil Nadu in Group B. The teams were on an equal footing through the entire first-half. Karnataka raided the rival goal consistently while Tamil Nadu too kept up the pressure with effective counters.

But three minutes into the final session, Tamil Nadu was unlucky to concede an own goal. Running down the left flank, Karnataka's Rajendra Prasad swung the ball towards the Tamil Nadu goal. His colleague Sunil Kumar failed to meet the ball but it still produced the desired result as Tamil Nadu's M. Amrithraja in an attempt to clear the ball only deflected the ball into his net.

Karnataka at the completion of its engagements has four points but still has to await the result of the Tamil Nadu-Punjab encounter to ascertain its prospects. Should Punjab win by anything more than a 1-0 margin, it would be curtains for Karnataka.

Meanwhile, at the FACT ground in Udyogamandal, Goa seemed to pick up from where it had left in Kozhikode as it blasted Assam out of the tournament with an easy 6-0 win.

Dominating from the start, Goa rode on four goals by Anthony Pereira, including a hat-trick, and a goal each by Climax Lawrence and Clifford Miranda.

In the other match at the same venue, Uttar Pradesh completed its engagements in Group A with a 2-0 win over Delhi.

The goals came in the first-half through long-rangers by Bhuvan Joshi and Prahlad Rawat. The result leaves host Kerala needing only a draw against Delhi on Wednesday to progress.

Wednesday's fixtures: Kerala v Delhi, Group A, 5 p.m.; Bengal v Service, Group C, 7 p.m., Jawaharlal Nehru stadium.

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