Dileep nets brace for Kerala

Riding on a brace by M Dileep, Kerala virtually assured themselves a quarter-final berth after drawing 2-2 with Megalaya in the Junior National football championship in Jaipur on Wednesday.

In other matches, Karnataka beat Delhi by a Sendhil Kumar goal in cluster IV, while Pondicherry and Chandigarh were locked 1-1 in cluster I. Haryana got a walkover from Mizoram.

Kerala had a tough match against the agile Meghalaya lads even though they shot into lead in the very first minute, when Dileep scored with a powerful shot.

Even as the tempo increased and play got rough, Meghalaya refused to be bogged down and equalised in the 21st minute through Perry, who took advantage of a fine move which originated from the left flank.

At half time, the teams were level at 1-1.

Changing ends, Kerala surged ahead in the 54th minute, when Rajiv, who was moving towards the goal, was brought down in the penalty box, which resulted in a penalty.

Dileep made no mistake from the spot for his second goal to give Kerala a 2-1 lead.

Meghalaya kept on trying and their efforts paid dividends in the 77th minute when William Umwi scored a fine goal to knot the scores at 2-2.

With this draw Kerala now has 7 points from three matches and has virtually assured itself a place in the last eight.

The other teams in the cluster, Nagaland and Meghalaya have lost a match each while Haryana is almost out of the reckoning and Mizoram failed to turn up.