Chennai, June 04 2009: Former champions Bengal put themselves into a difficult situation to qualify for the semifinals as they were held to a 1-1 draw by a fighting Manipur in their second Group A quarterfinal league match of the Santosh Trophy here today.

West Bengal started the match on a positive note as Lalwampuia got a great chance in the very first minute.

He received a well-measured Tarif Ahmed cross but couldn't keep his shot on target.

Bengal had another great chance to take an early lead when Gouranga Biswas delivered a lovely cross in the fifth minute only for both Tarif Ahmed and Lalwampuia to fail to connect with the cross.

Bengal went into the lead in the 10th minute through Lalawmpuia but a 59th minute strike by Manipur's Subhash Singh denied the 29-time champions a deserving win.

Having drawn with Tamil Nadu 1-1 earlier, Bengal will now have to win their last quarterfinal league match against holders Punjab if they have to make it to the last four stage.

Lalawmpuia and Subho Kumar kept Manipur backline busy for most part of the match.

In the second minute itself, Kumar struck a powerful shot from the edge of the box only to miss the target narrowly.

Two minutes later, Tarif Ahmed muffed another chance off Lalawmpuia's pass.

Bengal were rewarded for their incessant attack and in the tenth minute, Kumar fed Lalawmpuia who cut through a defender inside the box and slotted the ball home.

The second half also saw Bengal dominating until a mistake by Bengal goalkeeper Abhra Mondal helped Manipur restore parity in the 59th minute.

Mondal failed to collect cleanly a Bisheshwor Singh half volley.

Reisangmi Vasum standing near Mondal tapped the ball to Subhash Singh who gave the final touches.

Both West Bengal and Manipur came close after that but neither managed to hit home the winner, the match eventually ending in a 1-1 draw.

In the other quarter final match of the group, defending champion Punjab defeated Tamil Nadu 1-0 .

Punjab were the better of the two sides in the opening minutes but their momentum faded away and this allowed Tamil Nadu to gradually take control of the match.

Nadu player Muthu took a shot in the 17th minute but Punjab custodian Karanjit Singh held his own.

Three minutes later Tamil Nadu again had a chance to break the deadlock as Riju's powerful left-footed was fisted away by Karanjit Singh.

It fell to Jegan but the Tamil Nadu player couldn't keep his shot on target.

Punjab created their very own chance on the half-hour mark when Baldeep Singh's shot wasn't properly saved by Satish Kumar but the ball was eventually cleared by Kali Alaudeen.

Moments later Rakesh Masih delivered a cross from the right-flank but Rohit's header was off target.

Tamil Nadu started the second half the brighter of the two sides and tested Singh through Riju's shot in the 51st minute.

They went close again just minutes later but both Muthu and Kulothungan couldn't direct the ball into Punjab's net.

The lost chances came back to haunt the hosts as Punjab went ahead in the 73rd minute when P.Mahlima was adjudged to have brought down by Satish Kumar inside Tamil Nadu's penalty area.

Jagpreet Singh converted the resulting spot-kick and Punjab held on for the remainder of the match for a narrow 1-0 win.

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