Dempo Sports Club dominated the second half but failed to capitalise on the chances that came their way and were held to a goalless draw by Coca Cola Churchill Brothers in an 11th round match in the eighth National Football League, at the Nehru Stadium in Margao, Goa, on Friday.
Despite the draw Dempo finished on top of the league table at the end of the first leg.
The second leg will commence after a month's break.
Dempo have 22 points from 11 matches. They are closely followed by defending champions East Bengal, who have 21 points from as many matches.
Churchill Brothers, who have 18 points, move to fourth place behind Mumbai's Mahindra United, who have 19.
Churchill, who started on a promising note and held more possession in the initial stages, had two scoring chances but Yusif Yakubu and Ratan Singh failed to scored.
Dempo slowly got into the groove and had their best chance in the 30th minute, but Alex Ambrose's header off a Sunday Seah cross hit the bar and went out.
The change of ends saw Dempo going all out for the kill as they raided the Churchill goal repeatedly. They had at least five scoring chances but their strikers failed to score.
Alex Ambrose, who combined well with Seah upfront sent a cross to Clifford in the 10th minute but his left-footer was saved by Churchill custodian Mark Mascarnehas.
Ambrose had a good chance to score but delayed in taking a first-timed shot and defender Roque did well to deflect the ball out.
Churchill came up with a counter move through Yakubu and Sangha but Yakubu's grounder was collected by Dempo goalkeeper Mondal.
Dempo stepped up the pressure and nearly succeeded in taking the lead but Gafari and substitute Francis Silveira made a mess of a good opportunity when they failed to tap in a cross from Sameer Naik from the right.
With the time running out Dempo became desperate to snatch victory to consolidate their position on top of the league. But luck eluded them when Ambrose, after getting the better of defender Roque Pereira, chipped the ball only to see his try hit the far post and Mascarnehas collect before the ball could cross the goal line.
Churchill's Osumanu Husseini was shown the yellow card for a rough tackle.
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