KOLKATA: Bengal began their Santosh Trophy campaign on a winning note on Monday, beating Odisha 2-0 in Banga, Punjab.
Bijoy Murmu put Ranjan Chowdhury’s team ahead in the 14th minute and Jiten Murmu sealed the deal in the 48th minute by converting a penalty. Bijoy was later red-carded.
Bengal have been placed in Group B of the competition, along with Delhi, Haryana, Ladakh, Punjab as well as Odisha.
Bengal, being led by goalkeeper Shankar Roy, will take on Delhi in their next match on Wednesday.
Despite getting off to a winning start, Chowdhury was not too happy with his team’s performance. He blamed it on poor ground conditions and fatigue of his players.
Having left Kolkata on Saturday, Bengal players managed to reach the match venue only on Sunday night, barely 15 hours before the opening match.
In another Group B match, hosts Punjab thrashed Ladakh FA 4-0.
Chowdhury also managed the Bengal side in the tournament back in 2018. He was coaching Bhawanipore FC in the CFL Premier Division before being picked by the Indian Football Association’s coaches committee and given the task of regaining the crown.
Bengal are the most successful team of the tournament having won it 32 times. But they are yet to win the title since 2016-17.
In a first for the Santosh Trophy, the final in 2022-23 was played in Riyadh where Karnataka beat Meghalaya to lift the title.
This time, Thirty-six teams have been divided into six groups.
The toppers along with four runners-up will join last year’s finalists Karnataka and Meghalaya in the final round.
