Narainpur (Chhattisgarh) May 12 Tripura were held 2-2 by Arunachal Pradesh, while Madhya Pradesh and Assam played out a goalless draw in opening Group G fixtures of the Swami Vivekananda U-20 Men's National Football Championship at the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama Ground here on Saturday.
Arunachal Pradesh came from behind twice to snatch a point from Tripura in an entertaining 2-2 draw in the morning fixture. Both Tripura goals came from John Jamatia, while Toku Panung grabbed the last-minute equaliser for Arunachal Pradesh.
Jamatia scored his first in the 26th minute, latching on to a long ball from the bag before dribbling past two Arunachal shirts and rolling a low shot into the corner.
Arunachal Pradesh's equaliser came just past the hour mark thanks to substitute Sonu Chetry's header. The forward attacked a high cross from left-back Takar Mengnia, beating goalkeeper Sudip Kumar Chakraborty to the ball and heading it in. The ball hit the underside of the bar and crossed the line.
Tripura restored their lead in the 86th minute, Jamatia displaying his great dribbling skills yet again. Similar to the first goal, he was the lone attacker in the final third for Tripura and feinted his way past a defender before squeezing the ball past Anant Shah in the Arunachal goal.
Tripura thought they had got the winner, but the celebrations were cut short when Panung equalised for Arunachal in the 90th minute. This goal also came from a header, this time with Kito Ete's cross from the right, which was headed into the far corner by an unmarked Panung from just six yards out.
Assam hold M.P goalless
Assam and Madhya Pradesh also remained inseparable in the evening match in Narainpur. While no goals were scored, Assam, led by skipper Gwgwmsar Goyary, the India U19 international from Delhi FC, were the side who created better openings in attack among the two but were unable to convert any.
They pegged Madhya Pradesh back deep in injury time and missed a great chance when Sudeepta Konwar headed a fine cross from the right by Nayan Kumar Deka Rabha.
Group F will get underway on Sunday, May 12. Rajasthan will face Maharashtra at 07:30, while neighbours Manipur and Meghalaya will go head-to-head at 16:00. Both matches will be streamed live on the Indian Football YouTube Channel.
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