Thiruvananthapuram: Striker Lalit Singh Rawat scored four goals as Delhi trounced Himachal Pradesh 7-0 in league matches in Cluster II on the opening day of the 60th National Football Championship for Santhosh Trophy which commenced at the Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium here on Friday.

Delhi, led by a solitary goal at the breather, raised their tally to seven by scoring six more goals in the second-half.

Himachal’s defence and the goalkeeper were tested time and again by the Delhi forwards.

Rawat struck in the 10th, 59th, 89th and 90th minutes. In between, Faiz Alam, Sumith Thappa and substitute Ricky Chhakchuakk also scored.

Delhi strikers controlled the ball throughout the match and the rival’s collapse was total in the second-half. Three of the goals were scored when the Himachal custodian Pankaj Dutt failed to claim the ball properly.

In a preliminary-round cluster match held in Kozhikode, Uttaranchal beat Madhya Pradesh 2-1 after leading all through till the half-time.

While Siddarth Thapa (13th minute) and Kundan Singh Kanwa (14th) scored for the winners, Parveen Nair reduced the margin for Madhya Pradesh by netting a goal in the 71st minute.

In the other cluster matches played in Kozhikode, Assam and Railways registered convincing victories against Pondicherry and Chhattisgarh, respectively.

Assam were ruthless in completing a 5-0 victory. They scored in the 16th minute through Nitu Narzari. It was then Rahazuddin Ahmed’s turn to complete a brace (32nd and 36th) to give his team 3-0 lead. Monikanta Brahm further increased the lead to 4-0 in the 62nd minute while Thamson Langthasa rounded it off a minute before the close.

Railways, aided by a brilliant brace from Kasif Jamal, thrashed Chattisgarh 4-0 after leading 2-0 at half-time. P.V. Binoy and S. Suresh Kumar were the other scorers for Railways.

Meanwhile, Air India Express, the low cost international carrier, would be the title- sponsor of Santosh Trophy.