Punjab record second win

In a cluster III match at Khardah Stadium, Punjab scored the only goal through Balwant Singh in the ninth minute and though Nagaland threatened to score with quite a few chances being created, they held on for the remainder of the match to record their second consecutive win.

Having suffered a humiliating 0-7 defeat against Punjab in their opening encounter, Puducherry dished out a much better performance to edge past Gujarat 2-1 at Barasat Stadium.

Vinod Kumar gave Puducherry an 18th minute lead and looked good for more goals. Gujarat though then found the equaliser through Dipesh Pun five minutes befor the break. With the match hanging in the balance, Manikandon turned out to be the hero for Puducherry when he found the winner in the 73rd minute to help his team earn maximum points.

But the win might not be enough for Puducherry with Punjab still favourites to make the the last 16 stage due to an inferior goal difference as a result of their opening match loss.
In a cluster IV match, Rahul Gurjar scored a late goal with seven minutes to go in the game to help Rajasthan come back from their opening match humiliation and beat Jammu and Kashmir at the Howrah Stadium. |

Rajasthan had lost 0-13 to Manipur in their opening match.

Saturday’s results: Cluster I: Meghalaya 5: (Niwano Gatpoh 31st, 37th, 62nd, Steven Field 85th, Malsawma Gawngliana 90th) bt Jharkhand: 0. Cluster II: Chandigarh: 1 (Harvinder Singh 23rd) drew Tripura: 1 (Rajendra Deb Verma 58th); Andhra Pradesh: 1 Maharashtra: 4 (Alex Ambrose 18th, 21st, Reuben D' Souza 26th, Jatin Singh Bisht 64th) bt Andhra Pradesh: 1 (Duty Kumar Mahto 45th).