Striker Necio Fernandes scored in either half as Goa defeated Kerala 2-0 in their second Group A match in the Santosh Trophy final round here on Friday.
The victory powered Goa to second position on the table with four points. Goa are two points behind the table-toppers Services, who defeated Arunachal Pradesh earlier in the day.
Despite their 3-1 victory over Assam on the opening day, Kerala failed to build on the success and dropped to the third place with three points.
It was for the second time in the competition that Goa got the better of Kerala, having defeated them 1-0 in a group-stage match in Benaulim in October 2023.
Kerala made early moves with Abdu Rahee hitting the post with a header in the third minute while skipper Nijo Gilbert remained at the centre of the attack for his side.
However, a hamstring injury in the 21st minute saw Gilbert being replaced by Akbar Sidhique.
In the 44th minute, the ball fell in front of Fernandes, who only had goalkeeper Sidharth R Nair to beat for the first goal.
In the 58th minute, a ball from Shridharnath Gawas beat the Kerala offside trap and picked out Laximanrao Rane, who deceived Sidharth and passed the ball to Fernandes for the second goal.
Services thrashed Arunachal Pradesh 4-0 with goals from Samir Murmu, Vijay J and a brace from Bikash Thapa in the second half.
Meghalaya fell to their second straight defeat, losing 1-2 to Assam despite their opponents reduced to 10 men.
Milan Basumatary and Joydeep Gogoi scored for Assam while Sheen Stevenson Sohktung pulled one back for Meghalaya.
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