set semis date with punjab in santosh trophy semisit was sheer jubilation that engulfed the meghalaya dressing room in a video posted by all india football federation aiff on its twitter handle the players knew that they had achieved a feat for the northeastern state on monday by taking the side to their first santosh trophy knockouts with a 21 win over bengal and booking a berth against punjab in the semifinal fixture at king fahd stadium in riyadhgroup toppers services who beat railways 40 in the other group b match on the day will take on karnataka in the other semifinalthe celebrations however began on the pitch as the referee blew the final whistle to a long second half that did not add to the firsthalf scoreline but an injury to bengal goalkeeper shubham roy lengthened the wait for meghalayas joy at ofa 7th battalion ground in bhubaneswarit was a comefrombehind win for meghalaya who had already defeated manipur and delhi in their previous group b encounters with allen lyngdoh 44 and nikelson bina 453 yielding them the lead after bengal broke the deadlock early on with a sougata hansda 36 openerwith a changed format that saw each team in the twogroup league stage play five games each the meghalaya side showed the improvement in a team that had scripted a memorable 22 draw against hosts kerala in the last editionwith the locally muchrevered head coach khlain syiemlieh at the helm assisted by former india international aiborlang khongjee the northeast came with a plan in their bid to better their best performance on the national stage a bronze medal finish at 2007 national gamesthere is a good mix of boys who have experience playing not just santosh trophy but also for clubs outside the state said syiemlieh they have a lot of hunger and desire and im very happy for them they deserve itkhongjee who was also part of meghalayas bronzeplace finish had more context to the teams achievement in my time as a player we only qualified for santosh trophy once said khongjee and the bronze in the nationals while a big thing wasnt as big as this this is santosh trophy after allthey will now hope to keep up their historymaking journey and find a place in the summit clash