Holders Manipur rode on Narendra Singh's goal-scoring blitz to thrash Sikkim 5-1 while Kerala withstood some late pressure from hosts Delhi to win 2-1 and progress to the semi-finals of the 59th Santosh Trophy National Football tournament in New Delhi on Saturday.
If Manipur rode on a four-goal burst by striker Narendra Singh to make it to the last four from Group B, Kerala thrived on two goals in two minutes towards the end of the first half to pip Delhi, who came back strongly in the second session before crashing out of the tournament.
Kerala dominated in the first session and their all-round superiority over the hosts culminated in two quick goals which proved to be fatal for Delhi in the end.
Even as the first half seemed to end goalless, Delhi's citadel fell in the 43rd minute.
The move began from Shabeer Ali who sent a long ball to the rival area from inside the centre circle. The pass went to skipper S Ignatius, on the left flank, who quickly relayed it to Abdul Naushad.
Naushad, man-of-the-match against Railways, got space on the edge of the box and he unleashed a rasping shot which bulged the net giving no chance to Delhi custodian Rajat Guha.
Even before the celebrations died down in the stands, Delhi found themselves 0-2 down when another Kerala wave culminated in a powerful strike by Ignatius which Guha could only block. The rebound bounced to Abdul Hakeem who tapped in adding to the delight of his teammates.
The change of ends saw Delhi making more inroads through the right wing where versatile player Praveen Rawat, the architect of all three goals against Assam in their last match, came into his own after a subdued first session.
With young Sunil Chetri finally managing to slip past the tall Kerala defenders, Delhi looked set to reduce the margin.
Delhi's only goal came in the 66th minute when skipper Rishi Kapoor gave voice to the home team supporters who were stunned till then by Kerala's double strike.
The move came through the right with forward Faiz Alam going up in tandem with Rawat. The Mohun Bagan player found Kapoor near the box with a diagonal cross which was directed to the goal by his Bagan teammate with a powerful left-footer.
But that was all Delhi managed to show on the score sheet for their efforts as they defended grittily and went really close to drawing level in the 89th minute. It was Delhi's best chance but substitute Nageshwar Rao, who came in place of defender Pushpender Kundu fumbled from close with just goalkeeper M V Nelson to beat.
Manipur looked to steamroll Sikkim, who began with two Bhutias but without their star Baichung Bhutia who remained on the bench wearing the No. 15 jersey.
The champions opened the account in the third minute before Narendra completed his hat-trick with goals in the 26th and 30th minute.
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