New delhi, November 8: On a murky evening at the Ambedkar Stadium, it happened at last. Nemesis, the moment of truth, call it what you will. East Bengal's luck finally ran out as they choked in sudden death to enable Mahindra United enter the Allwyn Durand Cup final for the third time. Mahindra will take on the winner of Mohun Bagan-Churchill Brothers clash, to be played on Friday.After an intense battle which included 90 minutes of regualation time and 30 minutes of extra-time, both teams were locked 1-1. Even the sniper-fire, which was resorted to after the extra-time, saw both teams tied at 5-5. Mahindra's Khalid Siddique sealed the fate with a powerful right-footer.Infact, the match should not have gone beyond the regulation time. Leading by Manjit Singh's 11th minute goal, the Mumbai team conceded the equaliser in the final minute during injury time. Ratan Singh's free-kick was intellegently trapped and back-heeled by Nigerian Isiaka Aowemy before tapping in gently to force the extra-time game. It was an exhibition of missed chances as East Bengal's prodigal strikers spurned at least eight positive chances. ``You can't expect us to win after missing so many opportunities," said coach Syed Nayeemuddin, who looked visibly dejected after the match.If the first 15 minutes belonged to Mahindra, when they scored the goal, the rest of the first session showed the domination of the red and gold brigade. They created more openings than what they had done in the quarterfinal league. But the gilt-edged chances were nipped in the bud as East Bengal committed harakiri inside the 18-yard-box, either ballooning them over from close or fumbling.Former India captain Carlton Chapman missed one of those rare opportunites in the 31st minute as he ballooned over from a hand shaking distance when he had only Mahindra goalkeeper Virender Singh to beat. Earlier, Sur Kumar Singh's snapshot hit the crosspiece and rebounded into play while Isiaka's firm right-footer was parried by Virender. Although Christopher Kem had a great match, Mahindra defence cracked under pressure for the first time, particularly after the exit of stopper-back Tapan Ghosh, who fractured his hand to rule himself out for the final.
