Veteran striker I M Vijayan played perhaps his last match at the Ambedkar stadium as his team JCT drew goalless with Mahindra United and bowed out of the Durand Cup football tournament in Delhi on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Salgaocar defeated crowd favourites Mohammedan Sporting 2-0 to advance to the semi-final as Group C winners.
Mahindra edged out the Punjab team on better goal difference in Group A and qualified for the semi-finals, where they will meet Salgaocar n Friday.
Going into today's match after a 1-1 draw against TFA XI in their first match, Mohammedan Sporting had to win to advance, but faded away after holding the Goans goalless almost till the hour mark.
The Goans scored through Dharamjit Singh (59th minute) and Nigerian Felix Ibrebru (73rd minute) to advance.
Mahindra were clearly better than JCT though the 36-year-old Vijayan, who announced his retirement from national team after winning the Afro-Asian Games silver medal in Hyderabad last week, went close to scoring more than once. But the lanky striker was not in the best of form and was closely marked by Peter Siddiqui.
Unable to do much in the first-half, Vijayan, however, had a better second session. Immediately after coach Sukhwinder Singh changed Vijayan's striking partner in the 58th minute, replacing Harbinder Singh with Charanjeet Singh, Vijayan put the substitute through with a deft back heel but Charanjeet managed only a weak shot from inside the box.
In the 22nd minute of the second-half, Vijayan almost troubled the scorers by getting into position at the top of the box. However, his powerful right- footer was parried away by Mahindra 'keeper Naseem Akhtar.
Soon he earned a free-kick after the referee pulled up Siddiqi for an untidy challenge. Substitute Rampal's kick went to Charanjeet, who only managed to effect a weak header.
Vijayan had another chance ten minutes before the end of the match, which came in the form of a free-kick, but he only managed to shoot over the bar following a minute-long drama which saw the Mahindra wall moving before the referee's whistle, leading to an yellow card to Sidiqqi.
As the match grinded towards the final whistle, Charanjeet went up skillfully through the right and sent in a piercing cross that ran across the goalmouth with Vijayan a couple of yards in front of the ball.
Compared to JCT's forward line Mahindra strikers, Raphael Patron and Abhishek Yadav, had more pace and constantly troubled the JCT defence. But for goalkeeper Mansuru Mohammed's superb performance, the Mumbai team would have comfortably won the match. Felix Aboagye, who repalced Yadav in the second half, also threatened but failed to score.
Salgaocar and Mohammedan Sporting ended the first-half on even terms but the Goans were clearly the better team in the last 45 minutes, which began with a combined move down the middle by Dharamjit Singh, Tomba Singh and Ibrebru. The trio neatly evaded the offside trap and went inside only to miss due to poor finishing.
Salgaocar's first goal resulted following a combined move by Tomba Singh and Dharamjit that resulted in a corner-kick immediately after a free-kick.
Tomba floated in the ball to Dharamjit , who gave a slip to his marker and slotted home.
Both teams then brought in fresh legs, with Salgaocar calling up Samson Singh in place of F Mascarenhas and Sporting replacing Abdul Rauf Khan with Zahir Abbas.
By this time, Salgaocar began to control the midfield and allowed Sporting hardly any possession.
The second goal resulted after a passing bout near the centre circle. The ball was relayed to Tomba, who
Advanced into the rival box and found Ibrebru with a precise pass. The Nigerian side-stepped the defence and fired home before leaping up with joy.
It was a sweet moment for Ibrebru, who was kept quiet till then by the Sporting defenders, especially Mahab Das.
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