Santosh Trophy 2018 round-up: Kerala rout Manipur, Maharashtra keeps its hopes alive

Kerala maintained their winning streak by a thumping 6-0 victory over Manipur at the Howrah Municipal Corporation, on Friday evening. Meanwhile, Maharashtra kept their hopes alive as they scripted a victory over Chandigarh, and dismissed them from the 72nd Santosh Trophy’s title race.

Kerala was the better side in the first half even though Manipur tried to take shots on goal. It was a stalemate after the first 45 minutes of play. As soon as the second half began, Kerala showed its class. They were on the attack from the second the whistle was blown.

Substitute Afdal VK opened the scoring in the 47th minute and, soon the game became a goal fest for the South Indian side. Rahul KP made it 2-0 in the 59th minute. Jithin Gopalan scored again three minutes later.

Kerala’s star player Jithin M.S, who is by far the most promising player in the ongoing Santosh Trophy, made it 4-0 for his side. Jithin Gopalan completed his brace in the 84th minute. Just when Manipur thought, it was enough humiliation for the day, their day got worse as they scored an own goal to make it 6-0 in the 94th minute. With the win, Kerala goes to the top of the points table in Group ‘A’.

On the other hand, Maharashtra scored two early goals and held on to a one-goal lead against Chandigarh at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium to enhance their chances of qualifying for the semi-finals of the Santosh Trophy.

Shubham Khanvilkar scored in the fifth minute of the match after Chandigarh’s goalkeeper committed an error. The man behind the sticks suffered yet again conceding the second goal, after he misjudged the shot by Dion Menezes which found the back of the net.

Chandigarh’s effort to get back into the game was laudable and, it finally paid off in the 88th minute when Vishal Sharma pulled one back, but it was too late to avert the defeat. The North Indian side is as good as out of the competition.