Tamil Nadu brushed aside early rust to score a fighting 1-0 win against Delhi in their opening quarterfinal league match in the 66th Santosh Trophy at the Kalinga Stadium here on Saturday. Substitute S. Karthik struck the winner in the 76th minute.
The speedy left-winger, who replaced S. Santha Kumar in the second half, grabbed a rebound to slot it low into the right corner.
The ball came to Karthik’s feet inside the area after A. Reagan’s close-range shot ricocheted off Delhi goalkeeper Vikrant Singh’s body. The goal-scorer had an outstanding game. His introduction had the left flank buzzing.
The first half was devoid of any quality play with both teams preferring to dish out mindless long balls. But the second period brought about a change in Tamil Nadu’s approach.
They were starting to gel well up front and made a handful of determined surges. If not for Vikrant’s agility, TN could have added a few more in the closing stages.
For Tamil Nadu, midfielder L. Charles Anandaraj made an impressive national debut. The tall playmaker was here, there and everywhere with his energetic runs.
The youngster may have capped a wonderful day had he been successful in converting a 30-yard direct freekick.
But the Delhi custodian made a full-stretched leap to his left to deny Charles’s goal-bound attempt. Centre-back K. Sathish, too, played his heart out for TN.
Tamil Nadu mainstay M. Ramesh needs to pull up his socks. The talented striker had a forgettable outing.
However, Ramesh’s partner A. Reagan ran hard and came close to scoring on a couple of occasions. Reagan almost pulled off a top-drawer goal after a slalom run from the centre in the second half.
The whippet-quick Tamil Nadu striker left three Delhi players in his wake but his finish lacked conviction as it went wide.
Earlier, Mizoram held Railways 2-2. Though the railway unit called the shots, Mizoram made solid comebacks to cancel out the lead twice.
Gurpreet Singh broke the deadlock in the 15th minute to put Railways in front. Gurpreet’s acrobatic effort came just a minute after P.C. Riju’s outstanding bicycle-kick was parried by an alert Mizoram goalkeeper F. Vanlalrua.
With five minutes remaining for the break, V. Laltanpuia made it 1-1, nudging the ball in after a goalmouth melee.
However, Riju restored the lead with a peach of a goal. Latching on to a loose ball, the diminutive forward dribbled past a host of Mizoram defenders near the edge of the box on the left before cutting inside.
Finding no options around him, Riju unleashed a monstrous left-footed pile-driver to beat Vanlalrua all ends up.
However, Mizoram displayed a lot of grit to get back on level terms. F. Lalrinpuia equalised early in the second half.
Other results: All QF league: At Cuttack: Services 4 (V.V. Farhad 74, 85; Z. Horin 8, Subrat Sarkar 67) bt Haryana 0. Orissa 4 (Gokul Oram 45+1, 82, 90+1; Antu Murmu 66) bt Chhattisgarh 0.
Action today At Bhubaneswar: Meghalaya vs Goa (4.30pm); Uttar Pradesh vs Manipur (6.30pm). Cuttack: Maharashtra vs Punjab (4.30pm); Kerala vs Bengal (6.45pm).