Kerala’s Vishak Mohanan (yellow), who scored the team’s opening goal, attempts a header against Maharashtra on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: AIFF
Kerala’s Ameen Palakkathodi (yellow, No. 24) attempts a shot against Maharashtra.
| Photo Credit:
AIFF
Sports Bureau
Down 1-4 in the 65th minute, defending champion Kerala made a stunning comeback and forced Maharashtra to a 4-4 draw in a Group ‘A’ match of the 76th Santosh Trophy National football championship in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday.
Kerala struck three goals in a 11-minute spell shortly after that, and one of them, scored by V. Arjun, who smartly danced past two defenders and sent the ball in with a left-footer from just outside the box, was a beauty.
Kerala is currently in the fourth spot (four points from three games) in the group while Punjab, which defeated host Odisha 2-1 with two late goals, is on top along with Karnataka (both with seven points from three matches).
Karnataka blanked Goa 2-0 for its second win in the six-team group.
The results:
Group A: Kerala (Vishak Mohanan 38, Nijo Gilbert 66-p, V. Arjun 70, John Paul Jose 77) drew with Maharashtra 4 (Sufiyan Shaikh 17, Himanshu Patil 20, Sumit Bhandari 34, Tejas Raut 42).
Punjab 2 (Jang Bahadur Singh 75, Kamaldeep 82) bt Odisha 1 (Anand Oram 90+3).
Karnataka 2 (Jacob John Kattookaren 33, Abhishekh Shankar Powar 50) bt Goa 0.