Delhi missed a penalty to allow defending champions Karnataka to split points in a 1-1 draw during their Santosh Trophy match in Yupai, Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday. (More Football News)
Both the goals came in the first half as Appu Arogya Swamy's long-ranger for Karnataka was cancelled out by Prabin Tigga's own goal.
Delhi, however, fluffed a golden opportunity to win the contest in injury time when Sridarth Nongmeikapam's penalty was well saved by Christurajan T.
Karnataka started on a positive note and should have taken the lead in the seventh minute when Sathish Kumar shot wide in front of an open goal from just six yards out.
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Minutes later, Rashid CK's effort went wide and Godwin Johnson's harmless-looking shot slipped between Delhi goalkeeper Ashish Sibi's gloves and trickled just wide of the post.
However, in the 23rd minute, Appu curled the ball into the bottom corner from 25 yards out. After receiving the ball from Vishal R, the 25-year-old didn't think twice before whipping it in.
But three minutes later, Delhi skipper Jaideep Singh made a stealthy run into the box from the left before squaring the ball into the middle. Goalkeeper Christurajan missed it and an unfortunate touch off defender Prabin Tigga saw the ball roll into the empty net.
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Delhi were awarded a penalty in added time following Nikhil G's fall on Bhaaranyu Bansal. Sridarth stepped up to take the penalty but his low right-footer was saved by Christurajan.
In another match, Manipur split points with Railways. Manipur's Phijam Sanathoi Meetei scored the opening goal in the 56th minute, which was cancelled out by Akash Babu in the 96th minute.
Maharashtra defeated Mizoram 3-1 with Advait opening the scoring in the 26th minute. Lalhmunmawia and Dipak Prakash Patil were the other scorers for the winners, while substitute MC Malsawmzuala pulled one back for Mizoram.
