Haryana holds Punjab to goalless draw in Santosh Trophy

Gurgaon, Oct 16 (UNI) A lacklustre Punjab was held to a goalless draw by hosts Haryana in a Group A quarterfinal league match of the 61st Santosh Trophy football tournament here today.

In a match which never rose to a great level and, on the contrary, was often reduced to a physical game, former champions Punjab were never given space for manouevring by their neighbours.

Punjab dominated the proceedings but had only one opportunity in the whole match, that too in the second session.

Strikers Praveen Kumar and Manjit Singh, both of whom had a brilliant game against Goa on Saturday, were closely marked by Haryana defenders with Sandip Malik and captain Pawan doing a wonderful job to contain Punjab onslaughts.

The first half was dull and drab with most of the players crowding the Haryana box and the hosts making itermittent counter-attacks.

After the breather, Punjab went on to the offensive in search of a goal and their relentless attack was almost rewarded in the 66th minute when Daljit Singh's low cross from the right was tapped by Manjit Singh near the left post but Haryana goalkeeper had positioned himself well to deflect it for a corner.

That was all Punjab forwards could do in the entire match and Sandip and Pawan marshalled the Harana defence with elan to thwart Punjab forays.

Towards the end, in the 89th minute to be precise, Haryana's Ishwar was given marching order by referee Naveen Sindi for a dangerous tackle on Hardeep Singh Saini.

Later talking to UNI, Punjab coach Jagir Singh blamed Haryana's negative strategy for the draw and also criticised the referee.

''They did not allow us to play our natural game by using negative tactics and the referee too failed to control the game. My boys did not play badly but just could not score because of their negative approach,'' he told UNI.

Haryana coach Suman Bagga, however, was happy with the outcome and said, ''We are in the quarterfinal for the third time and it's a great achievement. We used to lose to Punjab by half-a-dozen goals earlier and considering that, it was a good show today.'' UNI PDS AY HS1930