In front of a near -full Corporation Stadium, Kerala pulled off a dramatic victory against Tamil Nadu on Tuesday.

The host’s 1-0 win is its second in Pool B of the men’s football competition in the National Games. It is on top of the group with six points.

Kerala, though, really had to sweat it out against a fighting Tamil Nadu, which was left heartbroken after conceding a goal in injury-time. A neat cross from near the right corner flag by Joby Justine was headed in by V.P. Suhair.

The neat cross from near the right corner flag by Joby Justine was headed in by Suhair from just outside the box. And the crowd roared, but even in their joy, they would have spared a thought for Tamil Nadu, which put up a brave challenge against a tougher rival right through.

It was almost an unrecognisable side from the one that was thrashed 6-1 by Goa two days ago. In the opening half, Tamil Nadu defended stoutly, as Hariharan, Shiva Priyan, Prem Kumar and Francis Beschi all worked hard to blunt Kerala’s frequents at the goal, under which Manikandan too did rather well.

The second half saw Tamil Nadu grew in confidence and created a few scoring opportunities as well. But Kerala, despite playing not anywhere near as it did in the match against Maharashtra, held on. And just when it seemed it would have to settle for a draw, came that goal from Suhair.

The Maharashtra-Goa match was far more entertaining. It was a game Maharashtra had to win to stay on in the competition.

Goa and Maharashtra have three points apiece.

The results:

Pool B: Kerala 1 (V.P. Suhair 90) bt Tamil Nadu 0.

Maharashtra 5 (Sandesh Gadkari 24, Mohammed Irshad 39 & 70, Vijit Shetty 45, Abhishek Ambedkar 90) bt Goa 3 (Marcus Mascarenhas 31 & 47, Micky Fernandes 76).