Mahindra United bowed out of professional football in style, defeating JCT 2-1 in their concluding I-League encounter at the Cooperage ground in Mumbai on Thursday.
First half goals from medio Sukhwinder Singh (33rd minute) and winger Paresh Shivalkar (43rd) gave the Mumbai outfit, which is being disbanded at the end of the league engagements by its management, a 2-0 advantage at half-time.
JCT tried to come back into the contest with an early strike in the second half (48th minute) through Henry Ezeh but the Mahindra players showed sufficient enthusiasm to keep them at bay for the remainder of the match.
The victory boosted Mahindra to the third place in the league standings with 41 points and they will remain there if Churchill Brothers of Goa are unable to take a point from their concluding tie against Mumbai's Air India on Friday.
JCT are fifth in the standings at the end of the match, with 32 points, which can change depending on the results of Friday's other last round matches.
