Bengal pummels Rajasthan 8-1 in Santosh Trophy

Faridabad, Sep 14 (UNI) Vimal Pariyar pumped in four goals, three in a row in the second half alone, as formidable West Bengal kicked off their campaign with an 8-1 pounding of hapless Rajasthan in a Cluster III match of the 61st National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy here today.

Accused of being a selfish player in the SAF Games in Colombo, Vimal, an East Bengal recruit, silenced his critics by displaying his penchant to find the net.

Though Rajasthan was never expected to create much of a problem for fancied Bengal, people hardly expected it to be such a one-sided affair with Bengal strikers scoring almost at will.

For the winners, who led 5-1 at half time, Sasthi Duley (8th minute), Suman Dutta (15th), Tariff Ahammad (26th and 34th), Shakir Ahmed (42nd minute) and Vimal Pariyar (47th, 56th, 66th and 88th) were the scorers while Rajasthan's consolation goal came through Surender Singh Rathore (19th).

Once Sasthi opened the account early in the eighth minute, Rajasthan citadel crumbled at regular intervals with Bengal forwards running through their defence.

After Suman Dutta made it 2-0, Rajsathan hit back through Surender and reduced the gap but that only jolted Bengal out of their complacence and they attcked with vengeance.

Tariff Ahmed struck a brace in a space of eight minutes and Shakir Ahmed also scored as Bengal went into the breather with a 5-1 lead.

The second half was a one-man show with Vimal showing his class.

He had the entire Rajasthan defence on their toes and the agile forwards pumped in all three goals of this half to complete the humiliation for Rajasthan.

UNI AY PKS BD1922