Captain Jijo Joseph led by example as the midfielder scored a treble to help Kerala record a 5-0 victory over Rajasthan in their opening match of the 75th Santosh Trophy national football championship finals at the Payyanad Stadium in Manjeri on Saturday.
The football fans of Malappuram did not disappoint as a capacity crowd of 30,000 turned up to see Kerala make a winning start in Group A.
Kerala's vociferous supporters only had to wait until six minutes for the breakthrough as Jijo bulged the net straight from a free kick to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. Kerala were on the front foot all the time, but Rajasthan had a rare opportunity in the 30th minute when Youraj Singh found the space inside the box only to shoot wide of the goal.
Bino George's men doubled the lead in the 39th minute when Nijo Gilbert, a star for Kerala in the south zone qualifiers, scored from the edge of the box. Jijo scored his second after the break after played through on goal by Mohammed Shaheef and scoring past Rajasthan goalkeeper Maninder Singh in the 57th minute.
The Kerala State Electricity Board midfielder completed his hat-trick in the 62nd minute with an easy tap-in before defender Ajay Alex sealed the win with nine minutes left on the clock.
West Bengal down Punjab
In the tournament curtain-raiser held earlier in the day, record champions West Bengal edged eight-time champions Punjab 1-0 at the Kottappadi Stadium in Malappuram.
It was a neck-and-neck battle between the two most successful sides in the history of the competition, but a Shubham Bhowmick goal in the 61st minute gave Bengal all three points ahead of their clash against hosts Kerala on Monday.
In Sunday's Group B fixtures, Odisha will face Karnataka at Malappuram while Manipur take on defending champions Services at Manjeri.
