Tamil Nadu, Manipur enter Santosh Trophy final rounds

 ANANTAPUR: Tamil Nadu and Manipur made the final rounds of the 78th National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy with all-win records on Tuesday.

In their concluding Group G match at the RDT Stadium here, Tamil Nadu dished out a strong second half display to defeat hosts Andhra Pradesh 8-0.

The home side, who lost all their matches in the group, gave a committed performance in the first half. Tamil Nadu found it difficult to break the rival defence and could only score their first goal during the add-on time of the first session through Lijo K.

But Andhra Pradesh couldn't repeat their show in the next 45 minutes and Tamil Nadu pumped in seven more goals to make it a rout.

Lijo K added three to take his individual tally of goals to four in the match, followed by Nandha Kumar Ananthraj (2), Henry Joseph Immanuel and A Regan.

In the second match of the day, Karnataka toyed with Andaman and Nicobar to win 11-0, but it was of no help as the former champions finished with six points.

Nikhil Raj Murugesh (4), Ryan Wilfred S (2), Crispin Cleetus, Surya UK, Syed Ahmed, Karthik Govind Swamy and Andrew Gurung were the scorers for the winners.

Manipur sail through from Group D

In Agartala, Manipur expectedly made the cut for the final rounds with nine points from three matches in Group D. In their last group game at the Umakanta Mini Stadium, they beat hosts Tripura 2-0. Both goals came in the second half.

Lt Lowly opened the scoring in the 73rd minute for Manipur, and he also found the target during the add-on time.

In the day's first match, Mizoram defeated Sikkim 7-0 to finish with three points. F Lallawmkima (2), Michael Lalbiaksanga, HK Lalhruaitluanga, Laltluangliana, Lalthankima and Lalthanpuia were the goal-scorers.