Amritsar, 23 November (IANS). Odisha qualified for the final round of the 78th National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy from the Group F Qualifiers by defeating Chhattisgarh 4-1 at the GNDU Sports Complex on Saturday.
Odisha secured six points by winning both the matches in the three-team group. He scored 10 goals and conceded two.
Odisha started aggressively in the beginning and scored the first goal in the fourth minute. Striker Roshan Panna, brilliant as ever, took the early lead and dodged a few defenders before sending in a cross from the right. Jitu Muduli, who was waiting inside, scored with a clever header. Karthik Hantal, another notable attacker from Odisha, scored the second goal in the 39th minute.
Odisha continued to attack the opposition goal in the second half and scored their third goal in the 53rd minute when Karthik Hantal took full advantage of the counter attack to add the second goal to his personal tally. He ran into the empty box of Chhattisgarh and scored a goal.
The next goal came a few minutes later. Muduli and Panna played amongst themselves to clear the defence, but later Panna scored. Avishek Kunjam scored a consolation goal for Chhattisgarh on penalty in the 84th minute.
Sunday’s matches:
Group A (Amritsar): Jammu and Kashmir vs Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh vs Punjab
Group E (Nalbari): Assam vs Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh vs Nagaland.
Group H (Kozhikode): Lakshadweep vs Railways and Kerala vs Puducherry
–IANS
RR/
