A goal in the closing minutes, just when they appeared likely to miss the train, helped Karnataka salvage a draw against hapless Orissa.

Murali converted a penalty kick to get the equaliser in the 89th minute.

Orissa, who had edged out Himachal Pradesh by a goal in their first game had to win this match to qualify but Karnataka, who walloped Himachal by eight goals, needed just a draw. Orissa, riding on splendid performances by defenders Durga Hembrem and Tulsi Ekka, held the Karnataka strikers RC Prakash and Satish Kumar, who missed good chances in the second session after a goalless first half.

Orissa snatched the lead in the 61st minute through Suraj Thapa, who came in for Santosh Kumar. Karnataka gained a penalty kick in the last minute when Prakash wasbrought down inside the box. Murali did not fail.

SERVICES QUALIFY: In Udhagamandalam, Services who had defeated Mizoram (3-0) and Uttar Pradesh (3-0) in their first preliminary league matches, also qualified for the last eight with an all-win record, defeating Jammu and Kashmir by a solitary goal in the 89th minute. Amar Bahadur Thapa managed to find the target for Services in a game of missed chances.

Tomorrow Andhra Pradesh will take on Manipur to decide the quarter-final league qualifier in Cluster F.

In Coimbatore, former champions Kerala will take on Nagaland to decide the qualifier from Cluster B.

The quarter final league is scheduled to begin in Chennai tomorrow, Tamil Nadu taking on former champions Punjab, who have been directly seeded into quarters.

Qualifiers for Quarter-final league

GROUP I

Bengal (seeded), Services, Manipur vs AP (winner)

GROUP II

Goa (seeded), Chandigarh, Karnataka

GROUP III

Maharashtra (seeded), Assam, Kerala vsNagaland (winner)

GROUP IV

Punjab (seeded), Tamil Nadu, Delhi

Bruno to lead Goa

MARGAO: Veteran Salgaocar mid-fielder Bruno Coutinho will lead the 19-member Goan team for the Santosh Trophy. Nine members of the team are from the newly-crowned National Football League champions Salgaocar, while five players are from Churchill Brothers and four from Dempo. The other member, Vishant Pednekar, is from MPT.

Team: Bruno Coutinho (capt), Robert Fernandes (v-capt), Juje Siddi, Vikrant Sharma, Roque Pereira, Itocha Singh, Covan Lawrence, Seby Coelho, Stanley Colaco, Augustinho Rodrigues, Jules Alberto, Anthony Pereira, Mario Soares, Somatai Shaiza, S Venkatesh, Marcus Carvalho, Cyril Baretto, Vishant Pednekar, Francis Silveira; Coach: Shabbir Ali; Asst coach: Peter Valles; Manager: Brahmanand Shankwalker.