West Bengal staved off the sporadic attacks of Assam to emerge victorious by the odd goal in three while Maharastra and Services split points in today's quarter final matches at Khuman Lampak Main stadium.

In the first ground group A clash of the 58th National Football Championship for the LG Santosh Trophy 2002, Bengal took the lead with Dipendu Biswas' eight goal of the tournament before the hard working Amat Pyne found the Assam net in the 38tH minute. The losers reduced the goal deficit in the second half through Sanjiba Rpngpi.

Backed by the thinly attended but vocal crowd, the North Eastern State began on a confident note but received a severe jolt when Kamakhya Basumatary handled the ball in trying to clear a threat from the right.

Dipendu Biswas, later declared Most Valuable Player of the match, converted the penalty award beating the Assam goalkeeper Sankar Barman to his right in the 6th minute. The former champions increased the margin in the 38th with an Amar Pyne header following a flag kick taken from the right by Chandan Das.

Bengal missed the third minutes into the second half, as Dipendu's header sailed over the cross bar. Bengal custodian Prasanta Dora plucked the ball before it reached an unmarked Kamal Chetri of Assam in the 55th minute to maintain the lead. Dora, however, had no answer to Sanjiba Rongpi's cracker from close range ten minutes later that opened the score account for Assam.

Kamal Chetri made the pass from the deep following a defence splitting through ball by Zenith Sharma.

Bengal did have some half chances to further increase the scoreline but feeble attempts by the forwards and delay in taking the shots spilled the good work of the medios. After Amar Pyne's header was calmly collected by Sankar Barman, Dipendu possessed the ball long enough inside the box instead of taking the shot with the opponent custodian out of position.

During press briefing after the match, Bengal coach rued the fact that the teams' schedules were all fixed in the noon. A one minute silence was observed as mark of solidarity to Maharastra captain Radha Krishnan Dubey whose mother passed away at home while the son was engaged in State duty at the championship. Dubey rushed back home today to attend the last rites.

The absence of the captain, however, did not deter Maharastra team, from going ahead 2 minutes after the first whistle. A quick clearance from the back found Anthony Fernandes near the opponent box. He sent the ball into the goal area where the nippy Altafuddin Hameed banged home following a goalmouth melee for Maharastra's opening goal.

The cross piece came in between Maharastra's second goal when a goalward header by Aziz Qureishi, from an Anthony Fernandes cross on the left bounced off the bar ten minutes later. They held on to the lead at the interval. Services equalised barely 3 minutes of the second half through Pradeep Debnath. A Raghu Kumar-Bikash Gurung move on the right foxed the Maharastra defenders near the goalline and reached Pradeep Debnath close to the post. Pradeep without any hesitation knocked in with the opponent custodian Rajat Guhe stranded.

Rajat was constantly tested by the Services players with powerful attempts from the long. He affected no less than three well struck shots to keep the scoreline unchanged. Pritam Bahadur's scorching drive from the top of the box was punched out by the custodian flinging to his left. Another powerful and well targeted attempt by Irduyaraj Gurung was saved in similar fashion on the other direction.

Rajat also plucked the ball off in the air before reaching Bikash Gurung near the post following a dipping cross from the right by substitude Tirunavakarshu five minutes from the end.

Maharastra's Aziz Quereishi was booked in the match for feigning injury while Services' Pradeep Debnath.

Coaches of both the team described the saves of Rajat Guhe as the main factor for the day's one all draw.