Dempo, Mahindra in goalless draw

Mahindra United and Dempo Sports Club played out a goalless draw in the Oil PSU seventh National Football League at the Nehru stadium in Fatorda, Goa, on Sunday.

It turned out to be a tale of missed chances for Dempo, who had a major share of the exchanges, especially in the second-half. The Goan team made a few good forays into the Mahindra citadel but failed to score. Their Uzbekistan Andreev Sergey and Lazarus Fernandes set up some incisive moves but faltered at crucial moments.

With the draw, Dempo moved on par with Vasco Sports Club, with ten points from five outings, having three wins, a draw and a defeat. Mahindra remained on the seventh place with five points.

The Jeepmen started well with a good move in the very fifth minute and almost went ahead, but Melwin Rodriques brought off a goalline save off a header from Abhisek Yadav, following a cross from Petr Starnadel from left flank. This was the only good move from Mahindra. Later, it was Dempo all the way.

In the 45th minute of the first-half, Andreev Sergey's powerful header off a cross from Lazarus Fernandes hit Mahindra goalkeeper Firoz Sheriff and ricocheted towards Clifford Miranda, whose attempt also hit one of the rival defenders before being cleared.

After change over, Dempo accelerated the pace and came near scoring on a couple of occasions. In the 80th minute, Mahindra goalkeeper Sheriff brought off a fine save ofd a try from Raman Vijayan.

Then, a minute before the long whistle, Dempo's Lazarus Fernandes missed an easy chance.

Dempo were also disallowed a goal, scored by Andreev Sergey, in the first-half by referee Dinesh Nair after linesman T Bhaskaran pulled Sergey up for off-side.

Complete Coverage: 7th National Football League 2002-03