The Hindu : Sport / Football : Kerala swamps Assam to enter pre-quarterfinals

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Kerala swamps Assam to enter pre-quarterfinals

Amitabha Das Sharma

Lalrinfela's goal helps Mizoram derail Railways

JOYOUS BUNCH:Kerala's Sakeer (11), O.K. Javed (8) and Rakesh (17) celebrate after making the pre-quarterfinals on Monday.

KOLKATA: Former champion Kerala overwhelmed Assam 5-2 in its concluding Cluster VII league encounter to book a pre-quarterfinal berth in the 64th senior National football championship, for the Santosh Trophy, here on Monday.

Playing under the pressure of a must-win situation, Kerala produced a fine brand of attacking football to earn the requisite points to emerge as the cluster league champion.

Kerala next takes on Mizoram, which scraped past Railways on statistics in Cluster VIII, in the pre-quarterfinal encounter on Wednesday.

The southern powerhouse gained from an improved midfield performance as it persistently put its north-east opponent on the backfoot with repeated incursions into its territory.

Taking the lead

O.K. Javed found the net off an angular shot that deflected off the Assam defender Naoba Singh, in the 19th minute to give Kerala the lead.

Assam rallied effectively and found the equaliser in the 22nd minute through its in-form striker Akum Ao, who fired home a perfectly-timed volley off a corner.

Kerala was in no mood to give up and took the lead again in the 41st minute when Justin Stephen nodded home a Jaseer Karanath corner.

Kerala, which looked even more determined after the change of ends, enhanced the lead in the 68th minute when M.P. Sakeer bulged Assam's net with a rasping angular drive that flew home to the top corner. Midfielder Bijesh Ben made it 4-1 in the 81st minute by making the most of a measured corner taken by Sakeer.

Though Sisuram Chutia pulled one back for Assam in the 86th minute, Kerala capped its brilliant performance when substitute K.P. Subair banged home a pile-driver in injury time (90+3).

In Cluster VIII, Mizoram pulled off a surprise by downing former champion Railways by a solitary goal. Striker Lalrinfela netted the winner in the 33rd minute.

Mizoram, which had previously beaten Bihar 10-0, scored its second win to tally six points and joined Railways, which also had two wins and six points. After the two teams remained tied even on goal difference (+9), Mizoram nudged out Railways by having scored a goal more than the latter (12-11).

The results:

Cluster VII : Kerala 5 (O.K. Javed, Justin Stephen, M.P. Sakeer, Bijesh Ben, K.P. Subair) bt Assam 2 (Akum Ao, Sisuram Chutia); Uttarakhand 4 (Veer Singh Negi, Manish Khatri, Lakhwinder Singh, Nikunj Aswal) bt Himachal Pradesh 0.

Cluster VIII: Mizoram 1 (Lalrinfela) bt Railways 0; Orissa 3 (Mohammad Ehsan Khan, Sheikh Mustaqim 2) bt Bihar 0 .

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