Kerala produced a dominant show to beat host Arunachal Pradesh 2-0 in a final stage Group A league match of the 77th National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy at the Golden Jubilee Stadium, Yupia, Arunachal Pradesh on February 28.
Forward Muhammed Ashiq S and substitute Arjun V found the target once in each half to secure the full quota of points for Kerala, which secured a knock-out quarterfinal berth with the result. This was the second win in four matches for Kerala, which tallied seven points and remained in the third spot after the penultimate round of the group league action. Arunachal Pradesh remained at the bottom of the table with just one point and crashed out of the competition.
Kerala, the champion in the 2021-22 season, saw its quarterfinal berth confirmed after Goa held last year’s runner-up Meghalaya to a goalless draw in the final match of the day. Goa tallied eight points from two wins and as many draws to remain in the second position while it was the end of the road for Meghalaya which has just two points from four matches. Earlier in the day, Services picked up its third win by beating Assam 2-0 and tallied nine points to remain at the top of the group league standings.
Assam, which has two wins in four matches, remained at the fourth spot with six points and also qualified. The top four teams from each group will progress to the quarterfinals. The final group league positions will be decided after the fifth and final round’s action on March 1.
The results:
Group A (round 4):
Kerala 2 (Muhammed Ashiq S. 35, Arjun V. 52) bt Arunachal Pradesh 0.
Services 2 (T. Bidhyasagar Singh 44, Christopher Kamei 50) bt Assam 0.
Goa 0 drew with Meghalaya 0.