Title contenders Kerala and Maharashtra overcame strong resistance from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to beat them 2-1 and 1-0 respectively, and sailed into the semi-finals from Group B in the 61st Santosh Trophy National Football Championship in Gurgaon on Thursday.
Following the victories, both the former champions maintained an unbeaten record in the tournament and lived up to their billing of a direct entry into the quarter-final league stage by virtue of being last edition's semi-finalists.
Santosh Trophy semi-final line-up
Kerala vs Bengal
Maharshtra vs Punjab
Kerala and Maharashtra completed their league matches with seven points, but Maharashtra topped Group B on a better goal difference of plus-4, while Kerala finished with a plus-3 goal difference.
Maharashtra had beaten Karnataka 3-0 before drawing with Kerala, while Kerala had beaten Tamil Nadu 3-1 in an earlier match.
Tamil Nadu finished third in the group with three points while Karnataka occupied the bottom after losing all their matches.
Kerala play Group A winners Bengal in the semi-finals on Sunday, while Maharshtra take on Group A runners-up Punjab in the other semi-final the same day.
Tamil Nadu dominated the proceedings till Adil Ansari scored the all-important goal for Maharashtra in the 66th minute against the run of play, connecting a precise aerial cross from the right by untiring India player Steven Dias.
Early in the match, L Johnny and Raman Vijayan missed two sitters for Tamil Nadu, and in the 51st minute Johnny's powerful left-footer from outside the box was saved by a diving India reserve goalkeeper Subhashis Roy Chowdhury to the dismay of Tamil Nadu.
In the earlier match of the day, India international N P Pradeep converted a spot-kick in the 84th minute after teammate K S Joby had put Kerala in the lead in the 16th minute through a bizarre goal and Karnataka equalised in the 35th minute through captain Xavier Vijay Kumar.
Pradeep's decisive goal came after Kerala were reduced to 10 men in the 77th minute, when Ebin Rose was sent off for second yellow card offence on Sunil Kumar.
