Tripura makes Punjab sweat for victory

By M.R. Praveen Chandran

CHALAKUDY, APRIL 3. Tripura gave Punjab enough reasons to ponder over while going down 0-1 in their Cluster IV encounter of the 56th National football championship for the Santosh Trophy at the Carmel stadium here on Monday.

Punjab tried every trick in the book to beat the Tripura defence which withstood the rival onslaught. Punjab dominated the match from the start but Tripura goalkeeper Arup Mandal brought off a string of fine saves. The ultra defensive tactics of Tripura frustrated Punjab whose strikers Jaswinder Singh and Sukhjit Singh were found wanting in converting the chances they got.

Ram Pal and Kuldeep Singh were at their creative best in the midfield but got little support from their strikers. Tripura concentrated more on fast counter-attacks in its efforts to jolt the Punjab defence. But more often than not, these moves only helped Tripura shift pressure from its half to the other.

Though Punjab had the rival defence in knots the casual approach of its strikers in the first-half saw it messing easy chances. Striker Jaswinder probably missed the easiest of the chances his team got being a shade slow in connecting a cross from Ram Pal who broke through from the left.

Though both Jaswinder and Sukhjit were substituted in the second- half it brought little change in its fortunes. Tripura withstood Punjab's offensive till the 70th minute but eventually conceded a goal due to a defensive error. A move initiated by Ram Pal saw Jatinder Singh fail to connect his first timer but the striker did well to cross the ball from the edge of the penalty box. The ball was headed out by a Tripura defender but unfortunately it came to an unmarked Kuldeep Singh who made no mistake. Punjab failed to score again as Tripura defence proved to be a tough nut to crack.

Assam bowed out of the championship as it drew its last league encounter 1-1 with Madhya Pradesh. The North East State had itself to blame having missed a series of chances in a match in which it enjoyed large spells of dominance. The main culprit was an off colour striker Jagadish Roy who spoiled the good work done by the midfielders. The striker missed four clear chances in the second half when Assam made an honest attempt to change the trend.

Madhya Pradesh took the lead in the 19th minute, scoring against the run of play and the goal came through a blunder. Assam goalkeeper D.B. Nazary and defender G. Chetry did not distinguish themselves by failing to clear a long lob from the middle. As the ball fell in between them, Madhya Pradesh striker Mustak Ali Khan sneaked into the penalty area and lobbed the ball over the goalkeeper's head.

Assam increased the pressure as midfielders T. Amlong and Prabin Rai opened up the rival defence with precise crosses. Amlong did the spade work for the equaliser. He tore away into the rival penalty area and rifled in a cross which was handled by Madhya Pradesh defender Milan Dey. Akum Ao converted the spot kick without much fuss.

Punjab will meet Pondicherry on Tuesday.

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Section  : Sport
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