Gurgaon: Chhattisgarh created the biggest upset of the Santosh Trophy on Tuesday when they forced mighty Manipur to make an early exit.

In the Cluster V match played at the Devi Lal Sports Complex, Chhattisgarh held Manipur, the only north-eastern state to win Santosh Trophy ever, to a goalless draw to reach the pre-quarter-finals on better goal difference.

While both Chhattisgarh and Manipur finished with five points from the four-team group, the former made the grade for scoring eight goals against Manipur’s three.

Chhattisgarh’s stunning show also made the other match of the group between Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh meaningless, though the former made most of it with a 4-0 win. Luck deserted Manipur early in the match when they were reduced to 10 men after their star defender Surkumar Singh was given marching orders in the 18th minute.

In Faridabad, Delhi powered their way into the knock-out round with a resounding 3-0 win over Railways in Cluster VII.

Delhi captain Sunil Chhetri once again proved to be the star performer with a terrific second half hattrick. After dodging past four to score the first goal in the 57th minute, Chhetri struck two more in the next 20 minutes to leave the Railways completely off-track.

In the same group, Jammu and Kashmir packed their bags with a goalless draw against Orissa.