The Hindu : Sport / Football : Sporting Clube holds Mahindra United

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Sunday, Mar 06, 2005

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Sporting Clube holds Mahindra United

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, MARCH 5. A spirited second half show helped Mahindra United hold Sporting Clube de Goa 1-1 in a ninth National Football League match at the Cooperage here on Saturday.

It was substitute Khalid Jamil's 85th-minute penalty conversion that helped the host side neutralise Nicholas Rodrigues' goal in 28th minute.

With today's draw, the Mumbai team completed its first-leg engagements with 18 points from 11 games for the third spot in the table. With three more matches left, the Goan club has 14 points from eight outings.

Dudu Omagbeni threatened the Mahindra defence several times and the visitor took lead after a hurried clearance from Mahindra's Jatin Bisht, which resulted in a deflection into the net. Bibiano Fernandes, livewire on the field, opted for a surprise by tapping the ball sideways off an indirect free-kick. The Mumbai side's defence was far away from Nicolas Rodrigues, who trapped and shot at target after moving a few steps goalwards. Bisht's attempt to close in resulted in the ball changing direction after striking him, past custodian Sandip Nandy.

Mahindra coach Syed Nayeemuddin pulled out Brazilians Rodrigo Da Silva and Flavio Rodrigues and the substitutes Steven Dias and Surkumar Singh injected urgency into the attack. Jamil, replacing Kulothungan, joined them and helped wrest the initiative.

Sporting's defence was in disarray after being bombarded with aerial balls floated towards Abhishek Yadav, whose attempt struck Abewusi Abebayo's hand. Custodian Luis Barretto, brilliant till then, could not read Jamil's placement off the penalty kick, the ball looping high into the net.

Omagbeni called the shots in the first half, displaying trapping, shielding and passing skills of a level expected from a foreign professional.

Peter Siddique, deputed to mark the burly Nigerian, ended up chasing shadows as the Sporting striker received almost every pass hit within range and then either dribbled his way through or slipped passes to colleagues. The Goan messed up two chances in the first half. Joseph Pereira was adjudged the `man of match'.

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