santosh trophy
Imphal, Oct. 18: Assam blanked match favourites Andhra Pradesh 3-0 at the Mapal Kangjeibung here today to bolster their chances of booking a berth in the last eight of the LG Santosh Trophy national football championship.
Assam opened its campaign in the championship with a spirited display against the boys trained by former national coach Nayimuddin. The team also made light of the injuries sustained in action by skipper Bibeka Gayary and Nabajyoti.
Having crossed the first hurdle with an emphatic win, Assam will now have to beat Bihar in its last match on Tuesday to qualify for the quarterfinals. Daman and Diu, the fourth team in the group, were disqualified from the championship after they failed to turn up for the match against Bihar today.
“I am satisfied with the performance of the boys despite injuries to two key players. Bibeka and Nabajyoti had to be substituted, but the injuries are minor,” said coach Ganesh Rai. Skipper Gayary was injured in a goalmouth melee following a corner kick.
“Our job will be easier if Andhra defeat Bihar. We will play safe and go all out for a win against Bihar, which has several Tata Football Academy (TFA) players in its ranks,” he said.
Though the southern state dominated the game in the initial minutes, Assam’s game gained momentum and the players were able to blunt the forages of the rival strikers. Thereafter, the winners took control of the proceedings and their job was made easy by some glaring mistakes under the bar by Andhra goalie Dawood bin Mustafa.
Assam secured three successive corners 25 minutes into the match, but failed to exploit the chances. However, they opened their account in the 36th minute through Utpal Basumatary, skipper of the Guwahati-based ASEB team.
In the 44th minute, Kamal Chhetry exploited a Mustafa lapse to increase the tally. The custodian failed to collect a shot by Sanjiba Rongpi and Chhetry pushed the ricochet into the net. The score read 2-0 at half-time.
The combination of Sanjiba Rongpi and substitute Padum Rabha proved dangerous for Andhra after the breather. Rabha scored the third goal in the dying minutes off a Saran Sunar cross.
