Former champion Services finished on top of the Group A standings as it held another former champion Kerala 1-1 in the final round of the specific group league action of the 77th National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy at Golden Jubilee Stadium in Yupia, Arunachal Pradesh on Friday.
Both the goals came in the opening half of the match as Kerala took the lead in the 22nd minute off Sajeesh E., who nodded home a corner from Arjun V. to finish the set-piece situation. Services was quick to regroup and found the equaliser just before the break in the 45+4 minute through Samir Murmu, who so far has scored nine goals in the tournament.
Goa managed to hold Assam 3-3 in another match of the same group. Looking to improve its position, Assam led 3-2 till late in the 89th minute when substitute Joshua D’Silva found the equaliser and managed to secure the vital point that gave Goa the second spot with nine points from five matches.
Assam finished fourth with seven points and completed the list of teams progressing to the knock-out quarterfinals. Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, who were already out of contention, finished their match 2-2.
Services as the Group A topper will take on the side that finishes fourth in Group B while Goa who took the second spot will be meeting the team finishing third in Group B in the first two quarterfinals scheduled on March 4.
On the next day Assam will be meeting the winner of Group B in the first match while Kerala will take on the team finishing second in Group B in the final quarterfinal fixture on March 5.
Comments
SHARE