Manipur beat Services 3-0 in Santosh Trophy

Manipur stunned defending champions Services 3-0 in the 75th Santosh Trophy Football at the Payyanad Stadium in Manjeri last night. Manipur scored an early goal in the initial stage of the match, with Ngariyanbam scoring in the 5th minute. The young well-knit Manipuri side scored second goal in the 50th minute through Lunminlen.

The third one was a self-goal by the Services' Sunil in the 74th minute. Earlier at the Kottappady stadium, the Odisha-Karnataka encounter ended in a draw with both teams scoring three goals each.

 

Odisha gained the upper hand through Jamir Oram in the 15th minute of the game, but Karnataka recovered from the



initial setback and scored two goals in the first half -- one through Sudhir Kotikela in the 29th minute, followed by another by Nishad in the 34th minute of the game. 

In the second half, Karnataka's Kotikela scored his second goal of the match placing his team in a relatively comfortable position. Odisha bounced back soon after, through Kumar in the 65th minute and Muduli finding the equalizer in the 76th minute.