Punjab trounced Uttar Pradesh 4-0 in a Group A encounter of the North Zone Qualifiers for the 69th National Football Championships for the Santosh Trophy held at the Guru Gobind Singh Stadium, Jalandhar.

Punjab combined well and started dominating the proceedings through its superb moves in the early minutes of the game.

Ajay Singh opened the score sheet in the 11th minute to give Punjab a 1-0 lead. In 38th minute, Gurtej Singh chipped the ball to unmarked Taranjit Singh, who was brought down in the box by Uttar Pradesh defender Sachin in penalty. Ravinder Singh converted the resulting penalty to make it 2-0.

Ajay Singh increased the lead in the 50th minute with his second goal of the match, Taranjit Singh (63′) slotted home the final goal to hand the hosts a comfortable 4-0 win.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand piped Chandigarh 3-0 in the second match of the day. Uttarakhand took the lead in the 60th minute through Ashok Singh. Jigme Novbu increased the lead with a double in the 69th & 80th minutes to secure Uttarakhand a 3-0 win.