Bengal beat Odisha to enter Santosh Trophy SFs for 52nd time

Hyderabad: West Bengal defeated neighbours Odisha 3-1 to qualify for the semifinals of the 78th National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy here on Thursday.

Odisha had a bright start to the game as Rakesh Oram put them in the lead in the 25th minute.

Bengal found the equaliser at the stroke of half time through Narohari Shrestha and struck twice more via Robi Hansda (70th) and substitute Manotos Maji (90+2nd) to enter the semifinals for the 52nd time.

Hansda’s ninth goal of the campaign saw him pull further away in the goal-scorers chart.

For record champions West Bengal, tackling adversity was the one challenge they did not expect from this game, against a team that had qualified for the knockouts by the skin of their teeth.