By IANS,
Kolkata: Maharashtra and Karnataka finished atop their clusters Monday to settle for a last 16 clash in the 64th Santosh Trophy national soccer competition here.
Three time champions Maharashta outplayed Tripura 4-1 at Vidyasagar stadium in Barasat to finish their cluster-II engagements with an all-win record.
Maharashtra called the shots from the start and rode on a double strike by K. Anees, whike Darren Caldeira and Surojit Bose scored once apiece. Tripura got a late reducer through Kiran Chetri.
Karnataka spanked Jharkhand 6-1 at the Howrah Municipal Corporation Stadium after the ultimate losers put up a strong fight in the initial minutes.
Xavier Vijay put Karnataka in the lead but Jharkhand soon cancelled it through Ravindra Singh in the cluster-I tie. Karnataka regained the lead with R.C. Prakash finding the target in the closing moments of the opening session.
As the match wore on, Karnataka’s stranglehold increased and they struck at will. Ngurneilal slotted twice while J. Murali and J.Sathish Kumar scored solitary strikes.
Another cluster-II match at Khardah saw Andhra Pradesh get the better of Chandigarh 2-1.