Punjab, Goa, Begal win Santosh trophy quarter-finals

Srinagar, Jun 8 (UNI) Defending Champion Punjab, runners up West Bengal and title contender Goa won their quarter-final league matches of the 62nd National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy defeating hosts Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and Maharashtra respectively at Bakshi Stadium here today.

Goa outplayed Maharashtra 2-0. Both the teams in the first half played a controlled game as they failed to score despite making some good moves.

After a goalless breather, Maharashtra boys made a number of attempts but their forwards failed to find the net.

Goa boys also earned a couple of scoring chances but the opportunities went begging.

It was striker John Dias of Goa, who drew the first blood on a beauty in the 82nd minute of the second half.

Three minutes later Denzal Franco made it 2-0 after scoring another goal through a penalty kick.

In the second match of the day West Bengal drubbed Karnataka 4-1.

Playing with a plan, both the teams started attacking each other and played aggressively from the word go.

But after several attempts, West Bengal's Manas Das scored a brilliant goal beating Karnataka defenders and a minute before the half time put his side in lead.

Gauranga Dutta, consolidated the lead for West Bengal and extended the lead by one more goal. Striker Syed Rahmin Nabi then made it 3-0.

Vivak Kumar, however, was able to reduce the margin when he scored in the 80th minute for Karnataka.

Tarif Ahmad made it 4-1 scoring a field goal beating the rival goalkeeper.

Earlier, Punjab defeated hosts Jammu and Kashmir 1-0.

The match between Punjab and hosts resumed this morning from the same point where it was stopped yesterday.

Punjab was leading by a goal, when the match was stopped in the 68th minute due to clashes between police and spectators at the venue.

The trouble started when Punjab striker Sukhwinder Singh scored, beating hosts' goalkeeper Vikramjeet Singh.

The supporters of the host team started shouting slogans and damaged the chairs and other furniture, forcing authorities to abandon the match.

During the remaining period of 22 minutes, the hosts tried to grab the equaliser but the Punjab defenders foiled all their attempts.

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