Defending champions Bengal on Sunday made a shock exit from the Santosh Trophy National Football Championships after they played out a goal-less draw against Kerala in their second Group A quarterfinal match at the Barabati Stadium here.
The 31-time champions, who had earlier lost to Maharashtra, desperately needed a win but failed to achieve the desired result.
Kerala now have four points from two matches while Bengal collected one point from two matches. Kerala need to win their next match against Maharashtra to move into the semifinals.
In another Group A match, Maharashtra rode on Kailash Patil's hat-trick to rout Punjab 5-0.
Patil scored in the 29th, 71st and the 83rd minutes after Vijit Shetty had put Maharashtra in the lead as early as the seventh minute. R. D'souza completed the rout in the 88th minute.
Maharashtra now have six points from two matches while Punjab are yet to open their account.
In Group B quarterfinal League match at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, strong contenders Goa scraped past Meghalaya 2-1.
Sachin Gawas put Goa in the lead in the 57th minute only for Banshrai Sun to restore parity in the 70th minute. Gabriel Fernandes sealed the fate of the match in the 87th minute.
Goa now have six points from two matches while Meghalaya are on one point from the two matches.far.
In another Group B match, Manipur pumped in half-a-dozen goals without reply against a hapless Uttar Pradesh. Thoiba Singh scored four goals (32nd, 53rd, 65th and 68th) while Thoi Singh and Naoton Singh scored one apiece in the 78th and 92nd minute respectively.
Manipur stay at the top of Group B with six points from two matches while Uttar Pradesh stay at the bottom.