New Delhi, October 23: Holders Manipur rode on Narendra Singh's goal-scoring blitz to thrash Sikkim 5-1 while Kerala withstood some late pressure from hosts Delhi to win 2-1 and progress to the semifinals of the Indian Oil Santosh Trophy football tournament here today.

If Manipur rode on a four-goal burst by striker Narendra Singh to make it to the last four from Group B, Kerala thrived on two goals in two minutes towards the end of the first half to pip Delhi, who came back strongly in the second session before cras- hing out of the tournament.

Kerala dominated in the first session and their all-round superiority over the hosts culminated in two quick goals which proved to be fatal for Delhi in the end.

Even as the first half seemed to end goalless, Delhi's citadel fell in the 43rd minute.

The move began from Shabeer Ali who sent a long ball to the rival area from inside the centre circle.

The pass went to skip- per S Ignatius, on the left flank, who quickly relayed it to Abdul Naushad.

Nau-shad unleashed a rasping shot which bulged the net giving no chance to Delhi custodian Rajat Guha.

Delhi found themselves 0-2 down when another Kerala wave culminated in a powerful strike by Igna-tius which Guha could only block.

The rebound bounced to Abdul Hakeem who tapped in adding to the delight of his teammates.

Delhi's only goal came in the 66th minute when skipper Rishi Kapoor gave voice to the home team supporters who were stunned till then by Kerala's double strike.

The move came through the right with forward Faiz Alam going up in tandem with Rawat.

The Mohun Bagan player found Kapoor near the box with a diagonal cross which was directed to the goal by his Bagan team-mate with a powerful left-footer.

But that was all Delhi managed to show on the score sheet for their efforts as they defended grittily and went really close to drawing level in the 89th minute.

It was Delhi's best chance but substitute Nageshwar Rao, who came in place of defender Pushpender Kundu fumbled from close with just 'keeper MV Nelson to beat.

Manipur looked to steamroll Sikkim, who began with two Bhutias but without their star Baichung Bhutia who remained on the bench wearing the No.15 jersey.

The champions opened the account in the third minute before Narendra completed his hattrick with goals in the 26th and 30th minutes.

The first goal resulted after a speedy move down the left by Bijen Singh.

He squared the ball to Narendra and the well built striker made no mistake.

The second goal came when Narendra deflected a long ranger by Bungo Singh into the goal leaving 'keeper Sherap Lepcha stranded.

Four minutes later it was 3-0 as Manipur further proved that they are a few notches above in class.

Speeding deep into the rival area, Tomba Singh sent in a high ball to Bijen whose header was only partly saved by the 'keeper.

Narendra only had to tap in and he did his part showing great touch.

As Manipur pressed forward in search of more goals, Sikkim scored their consolation goal four minutes before the break when Pempa Tsering Bhutia scored off a rebound after the goalkeeper managed to save the first attempt.

The smattering of Baichung fans in a sea of passionate Manipur supporters waited patiently for their famous son to enter the field but that never happened as the Indian captain remained on the bench even as Sikkim made all their three changes.

The change of ends saw little alteration in the script with Manipur threatening to score time and again before the fourth goal came six minutes after the restart.

It looked harmless when Dharamjit got the ball close to box following a flag kick.

But the wily player quickly realized that the 'keeper was out of position and scored from an acute angle bisecting two defenders.

Before the hour mark, Manipur completed the score line.

This time James went up through the right and had a shy at the goal.

The 'keeper again failed to gather cleanly and man of the match Narendra scored his fourth goal in the 58th minute.

Earlier, Delhi replaced goalkeeper Rajat Guha with Viney Singh and the move worked as the hosts did not concede any more goals after the change.

The second half was really exciting with Kerala relaxing a bit and Delhi stepping up the tempo.

Captain Rishi Kapoor, who was declared man of the match, tried to inspire his mates going up repeatedly through the left.

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