Gaurav Rawat's goal has taken Delhi into the final round of the 76th National Senior Men's Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy.
Host Delhi beat Karnataka 1-0 in a do-or-die match played at the Dr. Ambedkar Stadium to top Group-1. On the other hand, Tripura tasted victory by defeating Ladakh 2-1 while Gujarat defeated Uttarakhand 3-1 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
The hosts dominated in the one-sided match at the Dr Ambedkar Stadium, but Karnataka goalkeeper Satyajit Bordoloi's brilliant saves kept Delhi waiting a long time for the decisive goal. The deadlock was broken in the 77th minute when Gaurav Rawat scored the only goal of the match with a quick right footer on a well-coordinated attack between Jaideep and Ajay Rawat.
Karnataka created attacks on a few occasions, but Delhi's defense put up a solid performance to deny them freedom.
With Saturday's win, Delhi topped the Group-1 table and qualified directly for the final round. The host has 13 points from five matches with four wins and one draw. Karnataka, who scored four wins, slipped to second place after the first defeat. But Karnataka has every chance of qualifying for the final round as they have 12 points from five matches with four wins and one loss. Gujarat has retained its third position with its third win.
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It has nine points from five games with three wins and two losses. At the same time, after today's defeat, Uttarakhand remains at the fourth position in the table. Uttarakhand has four points from five matches with one win, one draw, and three losses. Tripura finished fifth with four points from five matches with one win, one draw, and three losses. New-comer team Ladakh finished at the bottom-sixth position. They scored one point from one draw and four losses in their five matches played.
On the other hand, in the second match of the day played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, there was a contest between Tripura and Ladakh, the two laggard teams of Group-1. In this secondary match, Tripura defeated Ladakh 2-1 and tasted their first win. Joykishan Gashi scored the first goal for Tripura in the 36th minute. Chinaba Tharchin converted the penalty in the 87th minute to give Ladakh a 1-1 draw. But Subhanil Ghosh scored a penalty kick in the 90+3 minute to give Tripura the win.
In the final match of the day, Gujarat beat Uttarakhand 3-1. Moinuddin scored two goals in the 79th and 85th minutes while Dharmesh Parmar scored the first goal in the 34th minute in Gujarat's victory. Anuj Rawat scored the consolation goal for Uttarakhand in the 70th minute.
