Meghalaya and Karnataka defeat former champions to set up Santosh Trophy Final clash in Saudi

Meghalaya and Karnataka on Wednesday stunned former champions Punjab and Services respectively to set up a summit clash between mselves in Santosh Trophy national football championships here.

Meghalaya me a spirited fightback as y rallied from a goal deficit to beat eight-time champions Punjab 2-1 in first semifinals and enter ir maiden final.

Karnataka n beat Services, who have won five titles in last 10 years, 3-1 in second semifinals to enter ir first final in 37 years. last time Karnataka were in final was in 1975-76 when y h lost to Bengal.

final between Meghalaya and Karnataka will be played on Saturday, while third-place play-off between Punjab and Services will also be std earlier on same day.

Punjab have come into semifinals without losing a match. y h topped ir group in both first and second rounds.

semifinals, third-place play-off and final is being played here as Santosh Trophy is being held at foreign shores for first time in its history.

Paramjit Singh h given Punjab le in 16th minute but Megahlaya restored parity in 37th minute through Figo Syndai when he coolly slotted home after Nikelson Bina h heed down on face of goal.

Meghalaya, playing in thir first semifinals, controlled large parts of match after equaliser but could t a find goal till fag end of match.

Sheen Stevenson Sohktung found target in injury ded time (90+1) in match played in near empty King Fahd International Stium.

Punjab, who have left out a few players that h played in second round in Bhubaneswar, thus have to wait for title which y last won in 2007-08.

In second semifinals, both Services and Karnatka were on equal terms before a three-goal burst in last five minutes of first half.

Services' Bikash Thapa and Karnataka's Abhishek Powar missed a goal each in 33rd and 38th minutes respectively. Thapa n put Services in le in 40th minute.

But two minutes later, Robin Yav restored parity from a free-kick before P Ankith gave Karnataka le in first minute of first half injury time (45+1) as Karnataka went to brear at 2-1 le.

Karnatka took match beyond Services' reach when M Sunil Kumar struck in 77th minute to make it 3-1.