By Joseph Solomon,

AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: Madhya Pradesh defeated Haryana 2-1 in a Group B fixture of the ongoing Sub-Junior National Football Championship at the Ambedkar Stadium in the Capital on April 17, 2016.

Madhya Pradesh began the first half on an attacking note and could have taken the lead with quiet literally the first attack of the game, had the referee not waved the attack as offside. With Madhya Pradesh doing most of the attacking in the opening minutes, Haryana were reduced to their half.

However, in the 10^th minute, Sahil Kadian latched onto a through ball and released a fine shot which was thwarted away by the Madhya Pradesh custodian. Four minutes later, Madhya Pradesh struck the woodwork as a low cross from the right flank was met with a thumping Rahul Singh header from the edge of the penalty box.

Haryana gradually evolved in the game and in the 40^th minute, Nakul Lohani made two top-class back to back saves for Madhya Pradesh as Haryana upped their ante. Haryana’s tempo was short-lived as in the 44^th minute, Madhya Pradesh took the lead when Suresh Kumar’s shot crawled into the back of the net.

At the half-way point Madhya Pradesh led by a solitary goal against Haryana.

In the 48^th minute, Madhya Pradesh doubled their lead as Suresh Kumar capitalized on an uncanny save by the Haryana custodian and tapped home to make the scoreline read 2-0.

Shortly after, Haryana had their best chance of the match thus far as Sushant Poonia was found clear of the defensive mix in the Madhya Pradesh 18 yard box. Instead of tapping the ball home from handshaking distance, Poonia failed to even make a solid contact with the ball, as the opportunity went abegging.

Haryana pressed hard to salvage something from the match, but they were largely kept at bay by a compact Madhya Pradesh defence. Madhya Pradesh pulled a goal back through Sahil in the dying embers of the match as the full-time scoreline read 2-1 in Madhya Pradesh’s favour.

Meanwhile, in the early kick-off of the day, West Bengal thrashed Kerala 7-0. The floodgates for West Bengal opened up in the 17^th minute when Shyambu Deb scored to give West Bengal a solitary goal lead. In the 32^nd minute, Hassan Ali Molla doubled West Bengal’s lead as the half-time score-line read 2-0.

It was an attacking master-stroke by West Bengal in the second half as they pumped in five goals against a hapless opponent. Sanjoy Oraw scored in the 54^th minute, followed by Katrick Golder in the 60^th, Bijoy Mandal in the 63^rd and once again Kartick Golder in the 67^th minute as the score-line read 6-0 in under 70 minutes.

Although West Bengal could have scored more, opportunities went abegging. Pintu Murmu comfortably slotted his chance past the Kerala custodian in the 89^th minute as the full-time scoreline read 7-0 in West Bengal’s favour.