National Football: Manipur rout mighty Bengal to keep Riyadh dreams alive

Manipur team stung by the defeat to Meghalaya in their previous game, ran rampant against a hapless Bengal side at the Kalinga Stadium in the evening kick-off. The loss means Bengal are now knocked out of the competition, with two games yet to play.

Manipur's architect in chief was Subash Singh, who rolled back the year in a scintillating performance right from the start. Singh had a part to play in each of Manipur's goals, his pass sending Naoba Meitei into space on the right in the first half, from which the youngster finished brilliantly, shooting into the far corner, from an acute angle. For Bengal, the pain soon got worse.

Having conceded a needless freekick at the top of the box, Bengal saw the effort tipped on to the crossbar by Raja Barman, only for it to loop back straight into Subash's path a yard from goal. He gratefully headed it in, sparking a melee inside the goal itself.

Bengal came out with a bit more energy in the second half, utilising their wings, and doing damage from crosses from both sides. Within nine minutes of the restart they had their reward, Souvik Kar heading it in to halve the deficit. A period of Bengal pressure followed, Manipur happy to play on the counter, with Subash constantly pulling the strings to set up chances for his younger teammates. None of them could finish.

With the game edging towards a close finish, came disaster again, Biswajit Hembrom volleying a cross from the right into the top corner of his own goal to give Manipur breathing space. The defender had been under just the mildest of pressure by Subash, enough to put him off.

In injury time came the coup de grace, Naocha Singh and Subash playing a brilliant touch and go and the former finishing perfectly from inside the box to give Manipur a well deserved victory.