GUWAHATI, May 21 � With a convincing 3-0 victory against Chattishgarh, former champions Manipur confirmed a berth in the last-four stage of the 65th Santosh Trophy.
It was totally an one-sided affair at the Nehru Stadium today as Chattishgarh had no answer to the fast-moving Manipuri players and virtually surrendered meekly.
L Tiken Singh (30th minute), I Nilkumar Singh (41st minute) and N Jimmy Singh (81st minute) scored one each for the team from the north-eastern region.
At the break, Manipur were 2-0 ahead and in total control on the ground. The Manipur players adopted attacking tactics from the word go and virtually shattered Chattishgarh�s defence with repeated forays. I Nilkumar Singh, A Herojit Singh and L Tiken Singh combined so well that Chattishgarh defenders, studded with Harshvardhan Shende, Prabal Chakravorty, Lochan Singh Bhagle and Mainuddin Siddique were forced to make mistakes at their danger zone.
Manipur wing back, K Reagan Singh, was so good, both in defence and initiating moves, that he single-handedly exposed the weakness of Chattishgarh�s right back and set the ball for his strikers quite frequently.
Herojit built a move down the right flank and finally S Manimohan Singh set the ball for Tiken who made no mistake in pushing home (1-0).
Manipur enhanced the margin through Nilkumar who beat Chattishgarh custodian Nitesh Murthy with an angular grounder (2-0).
Manipur started their second session with the same speed and kept the Chattishgarh defenders busy. In the second session, Manipur should have scored atleast four goals had Tiken, Nilkumar and Herojit not missed easy sitters. Chattishgarh forward, Mainuddin, was the lone man to watch at their attacking line who tried to cruise through to the Manipur goal area with his solo efforts.
Substitute, Jimmy Singh, fired the third salvo for Manipur anticipating a measured centre from Nilkumar. Jimmy had little to do but to divert the ball into the goal.
Earlier, in the 79th minute, Chattishgarh striker Washim Raza spoilt a spot kick shooting wide.
Today�s matches: Services vs Goa (3.30 pm); Railways vs Punjab (5.45 pm).
