Former champions Salgaocar Sports Club and formidable Vasco Sports Club played out a goalless draw and shared points in the 13th round of the National Football League at the Nehru Stadium in Margao on Tuesday.
It was a tale of missed chances for both the teams , but Salgaocar had an edge and could won outright had they utilised the chances, especially in the second half.
In the first leg, Vasco had won 1-0.
With this draw, Salgaocar took their tally to 24 points below table-toppers East Bengal with 30 points, while Vasco remained on third spot with 23 points.
Both the teams were far from impressive in the opening half which saw few goal-bound moves and occasional raids that never really looked dangerous.
With Vasco ace striker Marcos Pereira bottled up, the firing line lacked the sting to pose much problem for the Salgaocar defence.
Both the teams unleashed a series of attacks in the first half, but faltered in front of goal.
Salgaocar came near scoring as early as in the 15th minute, but Sunday Seah shot wide.
Salgaocar came with another good move in the 22nd minute when hard-working medio Dharamjit Singh crossed the ball to Jatin Bhist.
Bhist's header landed straight into the hands of Vasco goalkeeper Rozario Remos.
Vasco would have been in the lead in the 35th minute had Salgaocar goalkeeper Kalylan Chowbey not brought a fine save off a powerful long range volley from Riston Rodriques
.Later, the play was restricted to the midfield for the major part of the first half.
Vasco wasted a sitter in injury time when Marcos Pereira from the top of the box beat rival goalkeeper and passed to Riston Rodriques whose attempt was cleared by Salgaocar defender Bello Rasaq.
After change of ends, both the teams stepped up the pace of the game and made desperate attempts for a match winner, but without much luck.
Salgaocar medio Jatin Bhist was adjudged the man of the match.
More from rediff