By IANS,
Srinagar : Haryana beat Assam 3-1 in a Santosh Trophy cluster match at the Polo Grounds in this summer capital of the state Friday to qualify to the pre-quarter final stage of the National Football Championship.
Despite Assam striking first in the 5th minute, they could not capitalize before the strong defence of Haryana, who equalized in the 40th minute by Abhishek.
Both teams played more aggressively in the second half. Sanjeev of Haryana managed to hit the nets in 65th minute and a few minutes before the end Jatinder scored third goal for Haryana to keep his team on the winners’ track.
In another match played at the Maulana Azad Stadium in Jammu, Sikkim defeated Chandigarh 3-1.
The match was levelled at 1-1 at half time, the scorers being Gopal Thapa of Chandigarh in the 7th minute and Dikash of Sikkim in the 19th minute of the game.
In the second half, Emphal scored for Sikkim and in the last minutes of the game, Dikash scored his second goal to end the game in favour of Sikkim.
At Kashmir University grounds, Delhi beat Tripura by 2-0 to keep its hopes alive from group-III.
Both goals came in the first half, when Parven Rawat and G. Kameh scored in the 10th and 33rd minute of the game. During the second half, Delhi played more aggressively but could not add to its tally.
Riyaz Punjabi, vice-chancellor of the Kashmir University, was the chief guest at the second match played between the Railways and Chhattisgarh at the same venue.
Railways won the match 3-0 as Panraj Sura scored twice in the first half, one on the penalty in 14th minute and second in the 22nd minute.
Leading 2-0 at the half time, Suresh Kumar scored a third goal for the team in 51st minute of the game.
The second match of the day at Polo Ground went in favour of Karnataka, as they outplayed Uttar Pradesh by three goals to nil.
Rajendra Prasad scored in 30th minute and Pradeep in the 40th minute taking the tally to 2-0 at half time. Rajendra scored third for the team on a penalty.
The match at Science College ground in Jammu ended 2-2 draw as both the teams, Tamil Nadu and Bihar, struck in both halfs. The draw puts Tamil Nadu ahead in the group-I with by two wins and a draw.