Santosh Trophy: Delhi in last eight

KOLKATA - Delhi staved off a spirited challenge from Chattisgarh by prevailing 4-3 in the tie-breaker to scrape through into the quarter final of the 64th Santosh Trophy interstate football competition here Tuesday.

The match rolled into the penalty shoot out after the two sides finished 2-2 at the breather and half an hour of extra time failed to make any alteration to the scoreline at the Howrah Municipal Corporation stadium.

In the tie-break, Chattisgarh started off poorly as Wasim Raja and Subir Maji missed the first two setpieces.

But then Chattisgarh goalkeeper Partha Dey saved Delhi’s Ashish Pandey’s shot to raise his team’s hopes.

However, Vikash Rawat, Bhuvan Joshi and Tuishim Mashangva found the target for Delhi from the three remaining penalties and Chattisgarh boys Harshvardhan Shende, Mohammad Siddique and Dey’s successful efforts went in vain.

Playing on a slushy surface, Delhi earlier went into the lead in the 39th minute as the young Mashangva headed in off a melee.

Leading 1-0 at the breather, Delhi doubled the margin in the 47th minute, with Mashangva heading home again from close.

Chattisgarh, however, rallied back brilliantly and Siddque scampered down the right wing and slammed in 65 minutes into the game to make the scoreline 2-1.

Chattishgarh drew parity 10 minutes from close as Amjad Ali Khan put the ball into his own goal following a Delhi corner.