Manipur school spoil MSP's U-14 debut

North Eastern English School, Manipur, rode on a brace from skipper Md. Ajaruddin Shah to blank newcomers M.S.P. Mallapuram, Kerala 4-0 in the U-14 Group A encounter of the Subroto Cup Inter-school Football Tournament at the B.R. Ambedkar Stadium here Friday.

The 54th edition of Asia's oldest inter-school tournament was earlier inaugurated with a crisp but impressive opening ceremony which was followed with four matches on the opening day.

The Kerala outfit, who fielded an U-14 team for the first time after their U-17 side reached the final last year, was expected to put up a fight in front of a capacity crowd but failed to impress.

Manipur dominated the proceedings throughout and Ajaruddin opened their account in the 21st minute. The son of a postmaster virtually killed the competition in the 38th minute with a well converted penalty. Tom Cruise (35th) and Sheih Einul Hague (49th) completed the tally for the North Eastern side.

Results: North Eastern School, Manipur 4 (Md. Ajaruddin 21, 38; Tom Cruise 35; Sheih Einul Hague 49) bt M.S.P. Malappuram, Kerala 0; Tashi Namgyal Academy, Gangtok, Sikkim 5 (Sidhant 8, Karma Loday 10p, 40, Tendong 12, 16) bt G.S.S. M.U.S., Car Nicobar 0; Krishnadevpur High School, Burdwan, West Bengal 9 (Sayam Das 7, 24; Sourab Sardar 20, 30, 31; Mohd Ali 36; Ishan Paul 38, 40; Bishwanth Karmakar 47) bt Govt. Senior Secondary School, Lakshwadeep 0.