Jharkhand drub Tripura 5-1, TN scrape past Uttaranchal

Faridabad, Sep 25 (UNI) Lal Mohan Handsa scored a fine brace as Jharkhand thrashed Tripura 5-1 in a Cluster VIII match of the 61st National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy here today.

In a lopsided affair, Jharkhand called the shots right from the start and took the lead as early as in the fifth minute through C M Soren.

Handsa doubled the lead in the 18th minute while Sakla Mardi's 37th minute strike ensured that Jharkhand go into the breather 3-0 up with a firm grip over the match.

The second half proved no different and Dharmendra Deogam slammed in one in the 51st minute to add to the north-eastern team's misery.

Tripura, however, pulled one back eight minutes later through Utpal Chowdhary. However, that proved to be their only high point and Jhrakhand capped fine show by yet another goal in the dying moments when Handsa found the net in the 88th minute.

Earlier in a cluster VII match, a patchy Tamil Nadu took pain to brush aside Uttaranchal's challenge 1-0 through a second half strike.

After a goalless first half in which TN muffed several chances, R Vijayan struck in the 56th minute score the all-important goal.

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