I-League: Mahindra denied three points by Sporting

New Delhi: An excellent second half performance by Mahindra United couldn’t fetch them the much needed three points as Sporting Clube De Goa held the Mumbai club in a ninth round I-League encounter at the Cooperage Stadium, Mumbai.

Mahindra United started with Douhou Pierre and Lamine Tamba and out went Sukhwinder Singh and Sunil Kumar. Sporting missed the services of skipper Wilton Gomes while Luciano Sobroza made it into the starting XI despite not been fully fit.

The home side started better and looked to pile on the pressure and get an early goal. The first chance saw Steven Dias release Sushil Kumar in acres of space with the latter passing it back to the former whose final shot was blocked by the Sporting defenders.

From then on, the Sporting midfield duo of Bibiano Fernandes and Harmanjot Khabra took control of the proceedings. The made Mahindra’s Douhou look an ordinary player at least in the first session.

Khabra’s defence splitting pass to Rovan Pereira didn’t have any bearings as the latter shot it over the bar. Thereafter from a free-kick, Khabra did the dummy while Elijah Junior’s shot went wide.

The 27th minute saw the two Sporting strikers combining well as Nathaniel Amos’ sent in a through ball for Junior whose shot enforced a save from Mahindra custodian Subashish Chowdhury.

At the half hour mark, Bibiano released Rovan Pereira on the left but as earlier, the winger shot it over.

Bibiano was in the act again as he found Junior whose final cross to Remus Gomes on the right couldn’t create an impact as the right winger shot it into the orbit.

Two minutes from the break, Remus Gomes sent a chilling shiver on Mahindra fans as his cross from the right was met with a low diving header of Junior which went inches wide of the target.

Nathaniel Amos did some good work near the line and pulled it back for Junior whose shot went straight to goalkeeper Subashish Chowdhury.

The second session started even but the first chance once again befell the visitors as Bibiano’s right footer found the Mahindra custodian after receiving a cross from Nathaniel Amos.

NP.Pradeep’s fine run on the left was cut short by Felip Gomes for a corner. Debabrata’s left footer from 25 yards couldn’t trouble Sporting custodian Felix D’Souza.

A Steven Dias free-kick from the right was headed by Sushil Kumar at the near post but credit to Felix D’Souza who collected the ball calmly.

At this point, Mahindra United went all out and put Sporting on the back foot. Pradeep’s header off a Steven flag-kick was once again saved by the alert Felix D’Souza.

After Pradeep and Chidi were substituted, Douho was active on the left flank. In another such move, goalkeeper Felix D’Souza came off his line to close the Mahindra medio but missed him completely.

Douhou held his composure and his shot was stopped by Felip Gomes using his hand. The ball fell back to Douhou and his final shot was saved Felix D’Souza who by then got back to the position.

Mahindra United appealed for handball but it fell on the deaf ears of referee A Arjunan.

Three minutes from the final whistle, Sushil’s cross saw Douhou being in a one-on-one position with Felix D’Souza but his shot didn’t find the target. Mahindra United players couldn’t believe their luck and had themselves to blame for missing the sitter.

The match ended with the same scoreline and Sporting continue to lead at the top of the table. This was their first draw this season but one point from an away game couldn’t be considered bad.

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