Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Oct 19: Orissa eves stormed into the final of the U-18 Junior National Football Championships with a resounding 4-1 win over Bihar in the second semifinal which was played Monday at Margao in Goa.
Orissa took the lead early in the match played at the Raia Panchayat Ground, with Swarnapriya Nayak scoring in the seventh minute.
With Suman Pragyan Mohapatra and Jasmani Samad combining well upfront for Orissa, the Bihar defence was always under pressure. Their players had little room to a manouvre as the Orissa eves dominated the midfield completely. Sasmita Behera, Anima Malik, Arati Sethi and Swarnapriya moved with a lot of speed and cohesion to repeatedly prise open the Bihar defence.
In defence, Laxmi Munda marked main Bihar forward Tara Khatun very well. Khatun, who had scored five goals prior to this game rarely managed a clear look at the opposition goal.
Orissa skipper Anima did the spadework for the second goal. She dribbled past a couple of Bihar defenders and found an unmarked Jasmani who made no mistake in hitting the target.
Bihar got a goal back three minutes later when Shama Rani converted a penalty, but that was just a flash in the pan.
Orissa continued to dominate and in the 68th minute of the match, Jasmani scored again to extend Orissa’s lead to 3-1. Then in the 79th minute, Suman Pragyan scored to make the victory margin an emphatic one.
Orissa will meet title-favourites Manipur who beat Delhi 4-2 with Ranjibala Devi scoring a hat-trick. The final comes off October 21.