Manjit makes the day for Mahindras

Dame luck also favoured Mahindras as the rivals failed to draw level when a left footed drive off a long corner from Iraqi player Majid Amodaa landed on the right goal post.

Mahindras began on a confident note — the first warning signal to the rivals. Luckily they came across a lot of chances — the first being the 13th-minute action which saw Manjit miss the net narrowly off a Khalid Siddique pass. However, Manjit compensated for the lapse four minutes later. ITI’s Nigerian pro George Akeh tried to the keep the ball in the rivals citadel. However, Aqueel Ansari, who did an excellent job throughout the match today, passed it on to Abhay Kumar, who in turn directed the ball to Manjit.ITI goalie, S Balaji, who also is India’s second custodian, had to remain a mute spectator as Manjit outclassed him offering the small crowd a big reason to cheer about.

The Bagalore team, except an exiting one attempt from Amodda in the dying minutes, had nothing to offer. Their coach Habib aptly descried the show as “poor performance” and went on add that even his best of the best like Naushad, Majid Amodda and KV Dhanesh could do little. “I don’t know what happened today, but it was the worst show. May be it was because we played after a long gap.”

Elated Shabbir Ali said, “Luckily we managed to break the last-minute equaliser jinx. We faught well, but failed to put on better show in the second-half. Any way I’m happy to have earned three points through this match.”

Mahindra United are scheduled to meet Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan next in Mumbai on February 5.