Pritam Bahadur scored the first hattrict of the LG Santosh Trophy 2002 as title contender Services powered to a 5-0 win over Uttar Pradesh. Gujarat downed Haryana 1-0, Karnataka outplayed Tripura4-l and Delhi split points with Orissa in the other matches of the 58th National Football Championship.

In the first ground cluster VII tie at THAU, Thangmeiband ground Gujarat registered a solitary goal win scored in the second half. Both sides wasted a number of scoring opportunities in the first session marked by erratic passings and lack of direction and sting in the attempts. Haryana began the match on an aggressive note storming the opponent goalmouth several times. An Amit Kumar and Ranbir Singh move inside the Gujarat half found the custodian George Mathew at their mercy. However, Ranbir shot wide.

Ranbir also failed to put the ball in when Mathew rushed out in the 10th minute of play. Later, Mahipal Singh's header from an Amit Kumar cross went but the linesman ruled it offside. Gujarat's first genuine scoring chance came in the 20th minute following a cross to Naresh Chaudhari by Radhanandan inside the Haryana penalty area. But instead of going for the goal, Naresh passed to the far right giving enough time to the defenders for preventing the embarrassment. Haryana custodian Sunil Kumar also denied Gujarat the opening goal tipping over a half hearted attempt from Naresh nearly 30 yards out.

The second half also presented similar sordid action with the ball either going wide or high despite Gujarat having better territorial control. In the midst of missed chances, Gujarat stunned Haryana in the 68th minute with a Mukesh Kumar goal following a quick counter move with Rajiv Karir. Gujarat held on to their lead till the end and collected full points from the match in which Ravinder Singh of Haryana was shown the yellow card.

Tripura began the second ground same group match against Karnataka ambitiously testing the rival custodian with long range shots before Karnataka drew first blood in the 11th minute. Th Ragui made a through pass to Sunil S near the top of the Tripura box. Sunil relayed the pass to Dayananda SK inside the danger zone for the latter to open the score account.

Tripura replied with a header from Sambhu Saha ten minutes later following a cross from the right. Karnataka missed a sitter to regain the lead when a Dayananda shot grazed Tripura defender Badal Paul's legs for a comer kick.

With the Karnataka side calling the shots after resumption of second half, Tripura goalkeeper had a busy time in thwarting the opponent onslaughts. He flung to his left to punch out a powerful pile driver by Karnataka's Murali J eight minutes into the session. The diminutive Ragui also wasted a chance failing to connect a low cross by Niyaz Rahman from the left with only the keeper to beat. Ragui, who marshalled the Kama midfield, sent a through ball to Dayananda. Finding Sunil unmarked near the goal, Dayananda relayed the ball which Sunil fumbled in beating the goalie within handshaking distance 50 minutes into play.

Karnataka's relentless offences paid off in the 68th minute when substitute Jagdish Kumar's attempt slipped through the grounded Tripura custodian for the second goal. A crisp one-two between Dayananda and Sunil increased the lead to 3-1 with the latter providing the finishing touch in the 76th minute. Tripura nealy paid dearly for a defenders's folly when the ball deflected and hit the right post minutes later. Karnataka nailed Tripura with the fourth goal during injury time when a rebound from keeper Sushital Chakraborty was slammed in by Pradeep BV.

Strong title contender Services started the campaign with a resounding 5-0 routing of Uttar Pradesh, including the first hattrict of goals by mercurial striker Pritam Bahadur in the LG Trophy 2002 hosted by All Manipur Football Association under the aegis of AIFF. Pritam displayed abundant flair and clinical finishing rattling the UP defenders consistently.

In a one-sided cluster VI contest at ESU, Wangkhei ground, Services' margin of win would have been much more had half of their several attempts been converted into goal. Putting constant pressure, relying of short passes as well as swift moves down the flank, Services sounded warning bell to its prospective opponents for future matches in the tourney. Despite dominating the match, Services and Pritam Bahadur's first goal came only in the 27th minute. Debnath sent a teasing floater from the left corner right into the UP box where the dangerous Pritam headed in.

After the opening goal Services played with renewed vigour in search of more goals while UP players could hardly venture into the rival goalmouth. Pritam increased the lead with a well struck scorcher from the left top of UP penalty area in the 40th minute. He completed the first hattrict of the prestigious championship in the last minute of first half dribbling past four UP defenders before slamming it past the goalkeeper.

With the comfortable 3-0 lead Services substituted as many as three players to give the reserves vital match practice. Bikash Gurung made it 4-0 in the 51st minute while substitute Thirunavakarsu netted the fifth in the 62nd.

In the cluster VIII, Delhi versus Orissa match at Mapal Kangjeibung both failed to find their rhythm and hardly troubled respective goalkeepers. In the goalless encounter, Orissa's Ramamurmu was booked with the yellow card for dangerous tackle on Subash Negi.