Bengal began their Santosh Trophy title defence in style as the hosts eased past a hapless Manipur side 3-0 in the Group A opener of the 72nd Santosh Trophy at Howrah Municipal Sports Complex on Monday.
Winger Sumit Das’s brace in seventh and 15th minutes, and striker Bidyasagar Singh’s 82nd-minute strike gave the Ranjan Chowdhury-coached side a comfortable win.
Bengal began the match on the front foot and after missing a few half chances early in the match, the hosts took the lead in the seventh minute with Sumit finding the back of net. He nodded from a rebound after skipper Jiten Murmu’s header from Tirthankar Sarkar’s corner bounced off the crossbar.
Three minutes later, Jiten had a golden chance to double the lead for Bengal, but the Mohammedan Sporting striker was denied by rival custodian Dinakumar Singh. However, Bengal did double their tally soon after, when Sumit slotted home from Bidyasagar’s pass from a close range.
Meanwhile, Manipur almost pulled a goal back in the 27th minute but Ngangbam Naocha missed the target from inside the box after being set up by Jiteshwor Singh. The hosts had another chance to go further up in the 37th minute but Tirthankar Sarkar’s brilliantly taken free-kick came off the post.
Manipur began the second half as the stronger of the two sides. The Ratan Elangbam-coached side often asked questions to the Bengal back-line, but their defenders were also up to the task as they thwarted everything Manipur attackers threw their way.
Bengal also had their moments in front of the goal but Dinakumar pulled off two brilliant saves to deny Jiten and Bidyasagar in quick succession. At the other end, Bengal keeper Ranajit Majumder also made a brilliant save to deny Jerry Plumate in the 76th minute.
Bengal finally managed to get their third when Bidyasagar struck a brilliant volley in the 82nd minute to hit the final nail in the coffin. The hosts had few more chances towards the end but Manipur managed to not concede further as the match ended 3-0.
Bengal will now face Maharashtra on March 21 after at the same venue, while Manipur will take on Chandigarh on the same day at Rabindra Sarobar Stadium.
Jithin MS stars in Kerala’s rout
In the day’s other match, five-time champions Kerala thrashed Chandigarh 5-1 in their Group A game at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium in Kolkata..
Jithin MS scored two goals in the 11th and 51st minutes and provided two assists to guide his team to glory. The other three goals for Kerala were scored in the 18th, 49th and 77th minutes by Sajith Poulose, Afdal VK and Sreekuttan VS respectively. Vishal Sharma was the lone scorer for Chandigarh in the 88th minute.
It was an end-to-end affair at the beginning with both teams starting with a 4-4-2 formation. As the game progressed Kerala slowly took control of the game and started dominating proceedings.
The South Indian outfit broke the deadlock in the 11th minute of the match when Seesan S forwarded a through ball for right winger Jithin MS. The U-21 player received the ball at the edge of the box and found the back of the net comfortably. Kerala doubled their lead in 18th minute. Sajith Poulose finding the back of the net from Jithin’s low cross from the right flank.
Chandigarh’s morale was completely down after conceding the second goal while Kerala, on the other hand, increased the pace of the game and were looking hungry for goals. Kerala utilised their wings brilliantly with Jithin leading the side’s attack force. They exploited the vulnerability in Chandigarh defence and opened goal mouth on several occasion in the first half.
The teams went into the break with the scoreboard flashing 2-0 in favour of Kerala, who then started the second half with the same intensity with which they played in the first 45 minutes of the match. Their positive approach yielded them their third goal of the game in the 49th minute. Striker Afdal netted his team’s third goal from Jithin’s assist.
Kerala maintained the pressure and piled on Chandigarh’s misery as they increased their tally to four goals with Jithin scoring the second goal of the match.
Coach Satheevan Nil Balan made two changes in the 65th minute. Sreekuttan replaced Jithin in the flanks and striker Anurag PC replaced Afdal. Chandigarh too made a change. Coach Sandeep Singh brought defender Gagan Kalyan in place of Deepak Kumar.
Kerala hammered the final nail in Chandigarh’s coffin in the 77th minute when Sreekuttan scored. His shot hit the far post and went in. Chandigarh striker Vishal Sharma scored a late consolation goal to restore some pride in this one-sided clash.
Chandigarh next meet Manipur on March 21, while Kerala face the same opponent on March 23.