Manipur exit from Santosh Trophy with 0-0 draw with Chhattisgarh

Gurgaon, Sep 26 (UNI) Former champions Manipur made a shock exit from the Santosh Trophy Football tournament after they were held to a goalless draw by Chhattisgarh in a Cluster V tie which also saw their star defender Surkumar Singh being sent off for dangerous play here today.

In a high-intensity match, in which three Chhattisgath players were also yellow carded, Manipur threatened to score several times but the lack of clinical finishing by their forwards and some excellent goalkeeping by Krishna Kumra Kalsiya meant that the north-eastern team finished with equal points with their rivals but lost out on goal difference.

By virtue of a 7-0 victory against Himachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh advanced to the pre-quarterfinals as they had a goal difference of seven against Manipur's four. In fact, Manipur paid the price for not winning against Andhra Pradesh after blanking Himachal 4-0 in their first match.

In a must-win tie today, Manipur put up their best show in the tourney and did everything but score.

They began the match with a clear edge over their rivals, doing most of the possession, making dangerous runs in both the flanks and sending couple of crosses into the rival defence. But, they were jolted in the 20th minute when international Surkumar Singh was given marching orders by referee Biswajit Kar for elbowing a rival player on the nose near the right touchline in the Manipur half in the tussle for ball possession.

The 2003 winners, however, did not allow the expulsion of their key member to bog them down and continued to press for a goal and they came very close to doing that in the 25th minute. A Bijen Singh cross from the right flank was controlled well by Renedy Singh, who essayed a measured pass from the left edge of the box to Chitrasen Singh. However, Chitrasen's right-footed volley was brilliantly saved by the custodian, who dived full-length to his right to clear the ball for a corner.

Manipur had a half-chance in the dying minutes of the first half but Samson Singh's well-directed left footer was punched away by the goalie.

In the second half, Manipur continued to press for a goal and just a minute after the breather, Chhattisgarh goalkeeper was in thick of action again when he plucked the pole before reaching the head of Manipur defender Narakanta Singh from a Renedy Singh corner.

Ten minutes later, a Renedy Singh curling free kick from just outside the box found the target but goalkeeper Kalsiya managed to touch the ball by his fingers to clear it over the bar.

For the next half-an-hour, a desperate Manipur played an all-out attacking game but failed to breach the rival citadel with Chhattisgarh crowding their defence sending only two players upfront.

Chhattisgarh now play in the pre-quarterfinal knockout round with Cluster VI winners which will be decided by the match between Nagaland and Karnataka here tomorrow.

Chhattisgarh coach Sapan Roy, who started celebrations even before the final whistle had blown, told UNI later that his boys played to the plan of not giving free space to Manipur forwards.

''I am very happy with the perfomance of my boys. We defeated a team studded with international players and top guns from NFL. We are confident that we will be able to move into the quarterfinals.'' A disappointed Manipur coach Shanti Kumra Singh said the expulsion of Surkumar was a crucial factor but could have won the match had his forwards played well in the crucial match.

''The dismissal of Surkumar was a crucial factor. Even then we were clearly the better side and my forwards let the team down and failed to break the deadlock. They lacked physical fitness and were outpaced by rival defenders.'' Manipur captain Renedy Singh agreed with his coach and said his forwards should have scored a couple of goals.

Earlier, in an inconsequential Cluster V tie, Andhra Pradesh blanked Himachal Pradesh 4-0. Andhra Pradesh led 3-0 at the half time. Ayaz Bin Abdul Haq scored a fine brace while Syed Altafuddin Ahmed and Mohd Fareed also contributed in the team's win.

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