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Muthu does the trick for TN

S.R. Suryanarayan

Plus one goal difference ensures host’s progress

— Photo: K. Pichumani

Wily customer: Tami Nadu’s Muthu (centre), who scored a hat-trick, celebrates after a strike.

CHENNAI: Cheers rent the air, fire crackers burst as spectators went delirious after Tamil Nadu beat Manipur 3-1 in its last Group ‘A’ league match.

In the process the host ensured the required goal-margin of two to become the first team to progress into the semifinal of the National football championship for the Santosh Trophy at the Nehru stadium on Saturday.

Great comeback

It was a great comeback for a team that was emotionally down after its defeat to Punjab. And the man who brought Tamil Nadu back was the wily Muthu, who scored all the three goals in a space of seven minutes not only to register the first hat-trick of the championship but also to break Manipur’s hearts.

Though Manipur and Tamil Nadu tied on points, both finished with four, the plus one goal difference that Tamil Nadu earned helped it edge out Manipur.

Whatever happens in the next match in the group it will have no bearing on Tamil Nadu’s progress.

Thulasi’s boys can dare any team.

That much was clear from the outstanding display. Once again the strong point was the sharp forwardline where Riju may have looked a trifle subdued but Muthu was in roaring form.

The midfield clicked and the defensive trio of Ravanan, Kali Allaudin and Mohanraj hardly put a foot wrong.

It was Muthu’s speedy runs, ever a treat to watch, that simply took the Manipur defence by storm.

Once he was on the rampage, the fans upped their roar and panic struck the rival end.

However, none but the diehards would have expected this dramatic turnaround particularly after seeing the way Manipur began.

In the eighth minute itself Sathish was tested with a crisp left-footer by Subhash Singh. Manipur’s ball possession and crisp passes looked admirable.

But Tamil Nadu’s dramatic moments were to follow. Riju started it in a goal-area melee when his lobbed ball was handled by Thomas Singh to concede a penalty. Muthu shot in without fuss.

The cheers had hardly died when Muthu intercepted an unwanted back-header effort by Thomas Singh again. Before the Manipur defence could regroup, Muthu had done the damage, sidestepping goalkeeper Lokeshwor Singh.

On a roll now, Muthu sent the audience into a frenzy when he showed opportunism to meet a long diagonal by Mohanraj from deep and in a jiffy lobbed over the charging goalkeeper. Rarely has Nehru stadium witnessed this level of football excitement.

It was just as well that Tamil Nadu did not step down the tempo on change of ends. Manipur expectedly went all out and that resulted in Bijen Singh finding the mark with a 40-yard essay that for once caught Sathish napping.

But there was no stopping Tamil Nadu from scripting a famous win for a big step towards another famous goal.

The result: Tamil Nadu 3 (Muthu 29’, 34’ 36’) bt Manipur 1 (N. Bijen Singh 54’).

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