IFA, J & K enter semi-finals

Striking four times in 14 minutes in the second session, Jammu and Kashmir swamped Andhra Pradesh 4-0 to assure themselves of a berth in the semi-finals from Group-I in the Under-21 National football championship in Mandya, Karnataka, on Monday.

J & K completed their league engagements with six points, having won two matches. Andhra Pradesh lost all their three encounters.

In another match, holders IFA (Bengal) rallied to hold WIFA (Maharashtra) and enter the last four stage.

IFA, with two victories and enjoying a goal difference of seven, played second fiddle to WIFA initially and paid the price as the latter went one up in the 17th minute when Achutha Rao made no mistake in converting a pass from Paresh Shivalkar.

After tasting success, WIFA continued their onslaught but could not not increase the tally and crossed over with a 1-0 advantage.

They continued to have a lion's share of the exchanges in the second session too, but could not break through the IFA defence.

Playing a waiting game, IFA got the equaliser just five minutes before the end with Ashim Biswas headed home a free kick taken by Goutam Debnath.

IFA finished on top of Group I with seven points, having won two matches and drawn one. Jammu and Kashmir were second in the group with six points from two victories. WIFA finished third, garnering only four points while Andhra Pradesh were last, having lost all their three matches.

After an ignominious 2-8 defeat at the hands of IFA, the Andhra Pradesh defence put up a superb performance in the first session, which remained barren. Even after change of sides, Andhra frustrated the advancing Jammu and Kashmir strikers by keeping them at bay for about 25 minutes. However, the floodgates were opened in the 71st minute, when Jammu and Kashmir opened their account. Three goals then followed in quick succession as the defence crumbled.

Striker Ishfaq Ahmed played a pivotal role in the first three goals. Adil Qadir drew first blood after Ishfaq's shot ricocheted off custodian Mohammed Asif in the 71st minute. Four minutes later, Sheik Rizwan made no mistake, deflecting home a pass from Ishfaq. In the 82nd minute, Ishfaq himself moved in menacingly from a solo effort and found the target after Mohammed Asif, for the second time, failed to clear effectively. Bilal Ahmed completed the tally in the 85th minute when he made no mistake in converting a penalty kick. The spot kick was awarded as defender Alfred Tennson obstructed J and K medio Amardeep Singh.

Yesterday's report

Indian Bank qualify for the first division