Punjab, Goa cruise into semifinals

Aug 03, 2010 |

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Santosh Trophy

Kolkata, Aug. 3: Goa and Punjab blanked their respective opponents at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Tuesday to make it to the Santosh Trophy semifinals.

Although the situation was much more comfortable for Goa, the reigning champions, with consecutive victories earlier taking them to the top of Group A, Punjab required a comprehensive win over Karnataka to remain in contention.

The eight-time champions performed their first task to good effect, each player rising to the occasion to register an emphatic 5-1 win over Karnataka.

Nevertheless, it was Goa’s 4-0 thumping win over Services in the following game that put to rest all possible calculations and assumptions, confirming Punjab as the second semifinalist from the group.

Goa were on the offensive right from the word go and it took them just seven minutes to draw first blood through Milagres Gonsalves.

Seven minutes later, it was Milagres again who doubled the lead with Goa all over Services by then.

They added two more after the breather with a strike each from Adil Khan and substitute Clifton Gonsalves.

For Punjab, a Gurpreet Singh brace in the initial stages of the match set the tone for a perfect finish, with the Karnataka backline almost non-existent right throughout.

Gurpreet opened account in the fourth minute scoring from the top of the box with a powerful right-footer that was way beyond Karnataka goalkeeper Nagendra’s reach. Punjab almost made it 3-0 in the 31st minute but Randeep Singh proved to be unlucky hitting the far post. The only point worth mentioning about Karnataka was the 42nd minute goal from R.C. Prakash. It was a Xavier Vijaykumar’s through pass from the right.

Striving to increase the margin, Punjab finally got their third goal 21 minutes into the second-half when Parveen Kumar slotted home a right-footer off Ravinder Singh’s centre.

Towards the end, the margin was stretched further with Kumar bringing up his second of the game with a looping long-ranger after substitute Rohit Kumar headed home an Amandeep Singh corner.

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