Manipur book semis berth in Santosh Trophy

GUWAHATI: Manipur became the first team to book a semifinal berth in the ongoing Santosh Trophy, blanking out Chhattisgarh 3-0 in their final quarterfinal league group 'A' match on Saturday.
Tiken Singh, I Nilakumar Singh and N Jimmy Singh were on target, helping the lone representative from the North-East complete the formality in style. Chhattisgarh's woes were further compounded when their leading striker Wasim Raja missed a penalty in the second half.
Manipur finished the group engagements with seven points, dashing hopes for Chhattisgarh, who would return home with only the victory over Tamil Nadu in their pocket.
Manipur could have easily inflicted a far more devastation on the rivals but their players flirted with one gilt-edged chance after another, thus putting a spanner in their plans for a bigger margin of victory.
Despite needing just a draw to progress, Manipur were in no mood to sacrifice their natural attacking play for caution. First confirmation to their intention came in the 10th minute when Nabachandra Singh missed the target from close.
Their speed and pace were in perfect sync with the typical short and quick passes as Chhattisgarh defence continued to live on its edge.
Tiken then forced a smart save from Nitesh Murthy, but the veteran Manipuri could not be denied on the half-an-hour mark when he made the most of a weak clearance from rival backline.
Manipur extended the lead four minutes from the break when Nilakumar replicated a Maicon magic. Outpacing a couple of defenders down the right flank, his powerful shot from a tight angle went through thefirst post even though Murthy was guarding the area.
Chhattisgarh attempted to stage a brief fightback in the second half.
First, Wasim's shot came back into play after hitting the inside of the crosspiece and, then, in the 79th minute, he earned a penalty after being brought down by Thomas Singh. Wasim stepped up to take aim from the spot, only to see his shot ballooning over the bar.
As Chhattisgarh rued their luck, second-half substitute Jimmy punished them on a counter-move three minutes later, pushing home a square pass from his captain Nilakumar.