Santosh Trophy: Manipur draw with Railways, Delhi miss penalty
Source: Chronicle News Service
Yupia (Arunachal Pradesh), February 22 2024:
Manipur split points with Railways in a 1-1 draw during their Santosh Trophy match, here on Thursday.
In a rain-lashed afternoon kick-off, Manipur had to share the spoils after conceding a late equaliser by Railways.
Phijam Sanathoi Meetei s side-footed volley from Samson's long ball set up a fabulous opening goal for Manipur in the 56th minute.
The 2002 champions would've put the game to bed had Ngangbam Potcha Singh not missed a penalty and Sanathoi not struck the bar.
However, they were made to pay for their poor finishing as Railways equalised in the 96th minute, with Akash Babu tapping in the rebound after Rajesh S's header came off the woodwork.
Delhi missed a penalty to allow defending champions Karnataka to split points in a 1-1 draw.
Both the goals came in the first half as Appu Arogya Swamy's long-ranger for Karnataka was cancelled out by Prabin Tigga's own goal.
Delhi, however, fluffed a golden opportunity to win the contest in injury time when Sridarth Nongmeikapam's penalty was well saved by Christurajan T.Karnataka started on a positive note and should have taken the lead in the seventh minute, when Sathish Kumar shot wide in front of an open goal from just six yards out.
Minutes later, Rashid CK's effort went wide and Godwin Johnson's harmless-looking shot slipped between Delhi goalkeeper Ashish Sibi's gloves and trickled just wide of the post.
However, in the 23rd minute, Appu curled the ball into the bottom comer from 25 yards out.
After receiving the ball from Vishal R, the 25-year-old didn't think twice before whipping it in.
But three minutes later, Delhi skipper Jaideep Singh made a stealthy run into the box from the left before squaring the ball into the middle.
Goalkeeper Christurajan missed it and an unfortunate touch off defender Prabin Tigga saw the ball roll into the empty net.
Delhi were awarded a penalty in added time following Nikhil G's fall on Bhaaranyu Bansal.
Sridarth stepped up to take the penalty but his low right-footer was saved by Christurajan.
Maharashtra defeated Mizoram 3-1 with Advait opening the scoring in the 26th minute.
Lalhmunmawia and Dipak Prakash Patil were the other scorers for the winners, while substitute MC Malsawmzuala pulled one back for Mizoram.
(With inputs from PTI) .