Railway roll into last 8

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Southern Railway scored a comprehensive 4-1 win against South United FC (Bengaluru) to reach the last eight in the Aima-TFA Shield all-India football tournament at the Nehru Stadium here on Saturday. In the second match, Kerala Police made light work of local team SAI 3-1.

Southern Railway rode on a brilliant show by their captain R. Rajesh, who opened the scoring in the 12th minute before making two sublime goal-scoring assists after the break.

The deadlock was broken after South United right-back Gour Sankar Dutta committed a blunder while trying to make a minus pass to his custodian Harpreet Singh.

Rajesh, lurking near the edge of the box, took complete advantage of Dutta’s meek return to beat Harpreet with an angled shot.

Coached by former Indian player Raman Vijayan, the newly-formed Bengaluru unit restored parity through striker Amoes at the half-hour mark.

Moving in at the near post, Amoes timed his jump to perfection even as he connected a floating touchline free-kick from right-winger Madhukaran.

After the break, both teams fought tooth and nail to go one up. However, it was the home team who took the initiative through their pint-sized magician PC Riju. Rajesh, sighting Riju through his peripheral vision, produced a delightful through ball on the left.

In turn, Riju rounded his marker Amitraj Banshi in the inevitable ‘Rijuistic’ manner before hoodwinking Harpreet with a smart left-footed finish.

Striker M. Elamurugan stretched the lead finding the net off a corner taken by Rajesh.

Meanwhile, playmaker L. Charles Anandraj capped off a memorable debut for the Railways with a brilliant solo effort to put the match to bed.

The former FCI player dribbled past two Bengaluru defenders at the edge of the box and calmly slotted in his maiden goal for his new team.

Later, Kerala Police were on the button from the start as they toyed with a youthful SAI. The opener came in the 20th minute when G.V. Hariharan brought down Jimmy inside the area.

Sadiq stepped up only to miss, however, an alert Firoz fired the rebound in. Jipson doubled the lead nine minutes into the second half.

The loudest cheer of the day came when yesteryear superstar IM Vijayan stepped on to the field for Kerala Police in the dying minutes of the game.

Though he couldn’t get his name on the scoreboard, the former Indian player’s mere presence thrilled the Chennai crowd.

Meanwhile, it was announced that the Tamil Nadu football team would be felicitated for their Santosh Trophy heroics on Sunday. The programme will take place during the first match half-time.

Results: Southern Railway 4 (R. Rajesh 12, PC Riju 62, M. Elamurugan 66, Charles Anandraj 83) bt South United FC 1 (Amoes 30). MoM: Rajesh. Kerala Police 3 (Firoz 20, 73; Jipson 54) bt SAI 1 (R. Jaison 62). MoM: Firoz.

Action today: ICF vs Bengaluru XI (4pm). KSEB Kerala vs Thiruvallur DFA (6pm).