Santosh Trophy Final Round: Odisha Lose Lead, Settle For Draw In Campaign Opener

Bhubaneswar: Odisha came close to making the perfect start in the Santosh Trophy final round on Friday.

Playing in front of familiar surroundings at Capital Football Arena here, Odisha were locked goalless in the first 45 minutes of their Group A clash against Maharashtra.

Twelve minutes after change of ends, Chandra Muduli found the mark to give the hosts the lead.

Just when it looked Odisha will take home all 3 points, Maharashtra found the equaliser through Ansari after 83 minutes.

The other 4 teams in Group A were also in action today.

Kerala rode Asif O’s stoppage-time strike to edge past Goa 3-2 in an exciting contest earlier at Capital Football Arena.

Punjab and Karnataka were involved in a thrilling draw at OFA 7th Battalion ground. The teams failed to break the deadlock in 65 minutes, before Punjab scored 2 in quick succession through Kamaldeep Singh and Bipul Kumar.

P Kamalesh pulled back one for Karnataka in the 82nd minute. But there was more drama to come as midfielder Robin Yadav found the equaliser three minutes into injury time to ensure a 2-2 result.