Santosh Trophy: Bengal crush Mizoram 7-1, Delhi draw 1-1

KOLKATA - Delhi conceded a late goal to draw 1-1 with Tamil Nadu while 29-time winners Bengal spanked Mizoram 7-1 in quarterfinal group B outings of the 64th Santosh Trophy soccer competition here Monday.

Bengal opened up a 4-0 lead by the breather and pumped in three more in the second session to move atop the group after the Salt Lake stadium game.

For the winners, Gouranga Dutta and Shankar Oraon got double strikes each, while Tarif Ahmed, Jayanta Sen and Nilendra Oraon scored one apiece in the completely one-sided encounter. F. Lalmuanpuia pulled one back for the northeastern state in the 67th minute.

Delhi, on the other hand, took the lead in the 81st minute through David Ngaihte, who slammed home a right footer off a measured through.

Tamil Nadu restored parity two minutes from the final whistle with M. Ramesh making the most of a loose ball near the ribal rival box by letting loose a curling shot that went in.

Tamil Nadu played a well-coordinated game and created the more number of chances, but P.C. Riju, otherwise the fulcrum of the moves, wasted two openings in the opening half.

In the first instance, his solo ended fruitless as he took a weak shot that was thwarted by Delhi custodian Pronoy Roy.

Seconds before the breather, T.H. Parthiban addressed a fine cross but again Riju took a venomless shot which did not pose any problems for Roy.