31-times champions West Bengal moved atop the Group A standings after a hard fought 1-0 win over defending champions Services in a Santosh Trophy encounter at the GMC Bambolim Sports Complex on Tuesday.
Services, the defending champions adopted a cautious approach for first twenty minutes keeping West Bengal at bay.
Bengal though took the lead in the 22nd minute through Moirangthem Basanta Singh, who unleashed a brilliant curler from an angle leaving the goalkeeper beaten all ends up. Services failed to find an equaliser with Bengal adopting a defensive approach.
This was Bengal second successive win in the tournament.
In another match, Punjab rallied to beat Meghalaya 2-1 through an injury-time goal in a Group A league match at Tilak Stadium.
Meghalaya took the lead through Kitboklang Pale in the 51st minute. Punjab though fought back to restore parity as Gagandeep Singh found the back of the net in the 64th minute.
Punjab stole all points with an injury time goal through captain Sehijpal Singh. The victory helped Punjab open their account with three points from two matches. This was Meghalaya’s second defeat in as many games.
The scores
- West Bengal 1 (Moirangthem Basanta Singh) beat Services 0.
- Chandigarh 2 (Gagandeep Singh, Sehijpal Singh) beat Meghalaya 1 (Kitboklang Pale).