Kulothungan shines in Tamil Nadu win

Thiruvananthapuram:

Kulathungan's brace enabled Tamil Nadu overcome Gujarat 2-0 in a Cluster VIII match of the 60th Santosh Trophy football championship at the Chandrasekharan Nair stadium in Thiruvananthapuram. Kulathungan found the target in the 44th minute from a corner kick taken by Johny. He then scored in the 66th minute, after collecting a pass from Sabir Pasha from the right flank. Gujarat had many chances, but they failed to score. In the second half, Gujarat resorted to rough tackles and the referee showed the yellow card to two players. In the dying minutes, Gujarat goalkeeper George Mathew was shown the red card for assaulting the referee. Earlier, Andhra held Mizoram to a 2-2 draw. cluster matches In the other cluster matches played at Kozhikode, stat-studded Goa thrashed Rajasthan 7-0. Freddy Mascarnhas scored a brilliant hat-trick (36th, 59th, 78th) while Antony Perreira (26th), Climat Lawrence (52nd) Mahesh Gowli (60th) and Jaqim Abranjes (injury time) were the other scorers. Sikkim drew Tripura to a 1-1 draw. Tripura started well with Amarjit Sing scoring the opener in the 12th minute. However, Sikkim's Bigen Tamang brought in the equaliser in the 72nd minute to ensure a draw. Formidable Karnataka, led by National Captain S Venkatesh, defeated Chandigarh 1-0. Venkatesh netted the all-important goal in the first half. (PTI)