Karnataka blank Nagaland 4-0, move into pre-quarters

Gurgaon, Sep 27 (UNI) India international Kutti Mani scored a fine hat-trick as Karnataka blanked Nagaland 4-0 in a cluster VI tie and booked a berth in the pre-quarterfinal knock out round of the 61st National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy here today.

Karnataka stamped their class and outplayed the team from the north-east in all departments of the game. They topped the cluster with four points and will now meet Chhattisgarh in the next round on Friday.

Leading 1-0 at the half time, the winners scored through Kutti Mani (35th, 53rd and 74th minutes) and D Raju (57th min).

The south Indian team took control of the match from the very beginning but failed to breach the rival defence in the first half-an-hour of the play as Nagaland crowded the defence with only one forward upfront.

But the Naga defence crumbled in the 35th minute when they were surprised by a Kutti Mani right footed gounder from well outside the box which went past a diving goalkeeper before crashing into the nets.

Karnataka superiority was such that Nagaland's first attempt came only few seconds before the breather but Bendang's volley from top of the box sailed over the bar.

After the breather Nagaland, for a while, looked keen to restore the parity by making some goalbound shots but that turned out be a flash in the pan and Karnataka forwards breached the rivals' now-dispersed defence several times thereafter.

In the 53rd minute, Mani doubled the lead with an almost identical shot as his first goal, but this time from well inside the box. The hapless goalkeeper had little time to react and could only watch the ball going into the nets.

D Raju put anything beyond doubt by slamming one more four minutes later after collecting a pass from Xavier Vijay Kumar from the left flank, with most of the Nagaland defence yet to comeback to their position.

Mani rounded off the tally in the 74th minute by taking advantage of a completely disarrayed Naga defence. Rajendra Prasad collected a long clearence near the right touchline, sprinted down rival box with the ball, dodged past a couple of defenders and essayed a fine low cross to Mani, who slammed the ball into the empty net with the goalkeeper nowhere in the scene.

Later, Karnataka coach Thyagraj told UNI that his team played well in a must win situation and was looking forward to book a berth in the last eight.

''Chhattisgarh are a good team and we can not afford to be complacent. I'm happy that my boys put their act together today after a mediocre show against Gujarat.'' UNI PDS DH PM1854