Hyderabad, Dec 23 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir sealed their quarter-final spot in the 78th Senior Men’s National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy after defeating Rajasthan 1-0, while Manipur thrashed hosts Telangana 3-1.
J&K end the group with seven points from five matches and are assured of a top-four finish. Manipur, on the other hand, are secured of a second-placed finish, with 11 points from five games.
Jammu and Kashmir went into the match needing at least a draw to keep book their quarter-final spot, and managed to get all the three points in a match where they looked reasonably comfortable. Rajasthan needed to win and hope for a Manipur victory against Telangana.
The first real chance of the game fell to Mukesh Kumar of Rajasthan, who poked a low cross wide of an open goal from 10 yards in the 6th minute. It was as good as it got for them as Jammu and Kashmir slowly strangled them of possession and took control.
In the 33rd minute, Aakif Javaid dribbled past a pair of defenders on the right, cut inside and unleashed a shot from the top of the box, that curved marginally wide.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 74th minute thanks to Adnan Ayub's magic. The forward picked up a loose ball 35 yards from goal, drove towards the box and let fly with his left foot.
A diving Gaurav Kumar Singh could do little to stop the ball's ultimate destination.