Rinku Ghosh scored a hat-trick to lead West Bengal to a 3-0 win over Assam while Bihar managed to score a goal four minutes from time to beat Maharashtra in quarter-final league matches of the 11th women's National football championship in Chennai on Monday evening.
Bihar, a better rated team, were seen struggling against the strong defence put up by Maharashtra. However, a single slip up by Shahina Khan close to the Maharashtra goal developed into a melee, resulting in a flag-kick, which was taken by Annu Kumari. Annu's lob went to Anjana Rani and the latter's short pass went to Mausam Kumari, who fought for the ball with Shahina. Shahina, in her anxiety, pushed it sideways and Sevanjali Kumari latched on to it and slammed it home to give Bihar victory.
In the other match, West Bengal controlled the game right from the beginning. Their interceptions were excellent and the medios and wingers worked with total understanding. They could have won the match with a better margin, but for goalkeeper Dhwrwmsuli Boro, who came up with some good saves.
Rinku Ghosh was the pick of the lot and after she missed a scoring chance, a few seconds into the match, the ball hitting the crosspiece, she scored her first goal in the first minute.
Crossing over, Ghosh's first timer from 25-yards out put Bengal 2-0 further ahead and in the 66th minute Ghosh came up with a superb effort. Following a cross from Swapna Guria, Ghosh met the ball about ten feet away from the goal and booted the ball in with finesse.