Former champions Punjab and Karnataka stormed into the quarter-finals of the 59th National Football Championship, for the Santosh Trophy, while hosts Delhi bounced back into contention in Delhi on Tuesday.
While Punjab outclassed Meghalaya 3-0 to top Cluster V with an all-win record, Karnataka sounded a warning to their rivals thrashing Chhattisgarh 7-0 to qualify from Cluster VI gathering the maximum nine points from three matches.
The two teams joined former champions Railways and Sikkim, who advanced to the quarter-finals on Monday.
In the quarter-final league, Punjab will play Goa and the winner of Cluster VII (most probably Tamil Nadu) in Group D while Karnataka joins Sikkim and Champions Manipur in Group B.
For the hosts, it was a satisfying day as they beat Assam 3-1 to collect six points from three matches. Delhi, who hammered Gujarat 6-0 and lost to MP 0-1, now top Cluster II with a better goal difference.
Gujarat beat MP 1-0 to also collect six points but are second behind Delhi due to their heavy defeat against the hosts. The threat to Delhi now comes only from MP, who play Assam on Thursday.
In the day's other matches, Tripura beat Chhattisgarh 1-0, Haryana defeated Himachal Pradesh 3-1.
Delhi went into the match high on confidence after Gujarat dented MP's chances but the hosts were in for some surprise as the speedy Assam wingers pushed the Delhi defenders to the limit.
Assam's efforts paid dividends in the 12th minute when Birjab Musahari latched on to a loose ball on the edge of the box. Before the defenders could react, Musahari scored with a stinging volley that crashed into the back of the net giving Delhi 'keeper Rajat Guha no chance.
Assam threatened time and again but Delhi slowly gained composure with their Mohun Bagan players regaining form.
The equaliser came two minutes after Delhi shored up their defence replacing Sumit Thapa with Asis Das. The goal was created by Bagan's Praveen Rawat, the best player on view, who sped up through the right and relayed a cross to the goalmouth. Sunil Chetri then played his part to perfection getting on to the score sheet as Delhi restored parity in the 34th minute.
The start of the second half saw Chetri missing a header but the talented player immediately made amends as Delhi went up 2-1 in the 46th minute, the combine of Rawat and Chetri again doing the trick. It was Chetri's sixth goal in three matches after scoring four against Gujarat.
Who else but Rawat was again Assam's nemesis in the 57th minute as he found Faiz Alam, who beat Gobinda Baro in Assam goal with a power-packed right-footer.
Conceding three goals before the hour mark saw Assam replacing Baro but the substitute 'keeper was never really tested as Delhi held on to their advantage.
Punjab once again came out with an emphatic performance to trounce Meghalaya.
The team, which scored as many as 12 goals in its earlier two outings, missed numerous opportunities but still emerged 3-0 winners.
Punjab rested nine of their first 11 players, including former India skipper K V Dhanesh, but still hardly had any trouble in registering a convincing win.
The team, which consist of players mainly from JCT Mills, dominated the game throughout but failed to convert the chances in the first half as Meghalaya goalkeeper Anthony Nonghlaw came up with some brilliant saves.
Punjab coach Jagir Singh then brought in regular striker Gurjit Singh Atwal after the break and the move paid off immediately as he took advantage of a melee inside the box to give his team the lead just two minutes after the breather.
Gurpreet Singh made it 2-0 in the 50th minute when he showed brilliant trapping skills before slamming home a cross from Shivraj Singh.
Manjit Singh completed the tally three minutes from time with a curling left-footer from the top of the box.
It rained goals at the Chattrasal Stadium as S K Dayanand (20th, 36), M Satishkumar (31st, 88), J Murali (55th, 60) scored a brace each while skipper Xavier Vijaykumar (66th) found the net once for Karnataka.
Gujarat overcame Madhya Pradesh, thanks to a solitary strike by Harvinder Chauhan in the 59th minute.
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