Chd downs Sikkim 4-1; Sevices hold Assam to move into next stage

Faridabad, Sep 19 (UNI) With their opponents reduced to a 10-man squad, Chandigarh slammed three second half goals to beat Sikkim 4-1 in a Cluster III match here today.

Both the sides were tied 1-1 at the half time and after K Lendup Lepcha was given the marching orders after picking his second yellow card of the day, Chandigarh grabbed the opportunity with both hands and struck thrice to tame Sikkim.

Chandigarh took an early lead in the match with Sameer Singh finding the net in the 16th minute.

The joy, however, was shortlived as Sikkim equalised through Tenzin Tsephel within seven minutes and despite repeated forays, poor finishing by the forwards saw both the sides going into the breather on honours even, even though Sikkim was reduced to 10-man by then.

In the second session, Chandigarh dominated the play and struck through Bhupender Gosain (55th), Harminder Singh (71st) and Karthik Bhardwaj (78th) to seal the match in theif favour.

Meanwhile in another match, Services struck in dying moments to drew Assam 1-1 in their last qualifying match of cluster IV to make it into the next stage.

Both Services and Assam played attacking game and were tied goalless at the half time.

For both the sides, it was a must-win situation. Assam dominated the proceedings for most part of the match and took the lead when Akom Ao's cross from the right flank was cleanly headed in by Sanjeeva Rongpi in the 62nd minute beating Services goalkeeper Robikanta Singh.

Assam held on to the slender one goal advantage till the regulation time. Services managed to equalise in the dying moments in the 93rd minute (total injury time four mins) of the game when Vivek Venugopal's shot was saved by the Assam Keeper and Substitute CT Sajith Jersey No 20 put the ball past the goalkeeper in the melee and gave them the much needed equaliser to enable them to move into next round on better goal average.

Services now play 29-time winner Bengal on September 21.

UNI AY DH PM1948