Bengal scrap past Services 1-0, reach Santosh Trophy quarters

Faridabad, Sep 21 (UNI) Man-in-form Vimal Pariyar's strike in the last minute of the extra time came as a saving grace as a lacklustre Bengal huffed and puffed its way to the quarterfinal league, beating Services by the solitary goal in the 61st National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy here today.

It was a slipshod show by the 29-time winners and Bengal coach Prasanta Banerjee was not exactly thriller with the show by his wards.

In a dull match which saw mispasses galore and was confined to the midfield, goal-shy Bengal forwards failed to cash in on the rare chances that came their way.

Services, on the other hand, were never overawed by the reputation of their rivals and successfully defended their citadel before it came down in the final minute of the extra time.

It was an inch-perfect pass from Lalhmangaih Zu inside the box which found Vimal in an advantageous position and the striker, who had fired two successive hat-tricks in the cluster stages before going into this match, made no mistake and slotted it home for the all-important winner.

Bengal had reached the pre-quarterfinals defeating Rajasthan 8-1 and Madhya Pradesh 5-1 in its Cluster III matches.

Services, on the other hand, came this far after beating Chandigarh 4-1, thrashing Sikkim 7-1 and managing a draw against Assam 1-1 in its Cluster IV matches.

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