Mapusa: Dempo recovered from a goal down to play out a 1-1 draw against Salgaocar in an exciting I-League tie at Duler Stadium here Wednesday. Salgaocar, who looked the better of the two sides in the first half, took the lead in the 40th minute through Darryl Duffy.
But Dempo fought back, especially in the latter part of the second half, with Jeje Lalpekhlua scoring an equaliser at the 81st minute. While Salgaocar now have seven points from two wins and a draw, Dempo, who drew their third match, have three points from four outings.
Both the teams played an attacking game. Salgaocar continued to show fine form as they prowl on the rival goal more often and sounded the first warning when Claude Gnakpa's firm drive hit the woodwork early in the first half.
With more ball possession, Salgaocar mounted pressure on the rival goal from the flanks with Francis Fernandes providing some nice crosses for strikers Gnakpa and Duffy and the latter, after missing a couple of close chances, put Salgaocar ahead in the 40 minute.
Defender Nicolau Colaco, who overlapped constantly on the right, cut past a rival defender and released the ball to Duffy who placed it into the net past keeper Subhasish Roychowdhury to have Salgaocar leading 1-0 at half time. Dempo's Roberto Silva and Jeje Lalpekhlua combined well in the middle but were not allowed to penetrate inside the box by the rival defence.
They too had their share of exchanges and chances but once Roberto Silva's shot missed the target narrowly and later Clifford Miranda's attempt at goal was punched over by keeper Karanjit Singh. After the change of sides, Salgaocar could have increased the lead in the 62nd minute but Gilbert Oliveira failed to convert the pass from Gnakpa into goal.
Dempo slowly took control over the proceeding as they made inroads into rival box and came close in finding the equaliser but Salgaocar's keeper Karanjit Singh was alert under the bar as he dived on his right to keep the ball out off a left footer from Jeje.
Dempo found the bearing in the latter part of the second half as they kept on attacking and Salgaocar citadel lived dangerously as Colosimo header hit the bar after keeper Karanjit tried to tip the ball over and the rebound saw Peter Carvalho failing to score as he shot wide out.
Salgaocar citadel finally fell as Dempo found the equaliser in the 81st minute when Clifford Miranda shot off a Roberto Silva cross took a deflection off a rival defender and the ball fell at the feet of Jeje who calmly slotted in past Karanjit Singh.
In another match, East Bengal began their I-League campaign in style by thrashing Shillong Lajong FC 4-0 in a one-sided match here today.
The visitors dominated the proceedings throughout and James Moga opened scoring in the 20th minute as he headed a low corner kick from Ralte, silencing the home crowd who beat drums to cheer their side.
Lajong's chance of restoring parity came in the 43rd minute when Ornell Glen's pass to Subash Singh went a little too high above the cross bar.
Chidi Edeh doubled the lead for East Bengal for the visitors in the dying minutes of the first half, dribbling past three Lajong defenders before finding the target with a powerful right footer.
The visitors could have scored another goal through Chidih had Lallawmzuala not cleared it on time and right on the goal-line.
In another match, Mumbai FC was held to a 1-1 draw at home by United SC in an I-League Round-4 encounter at the Balewadi Sports Complex here today.
Striker CK Vineeth opened scoring for the visitors in the 16th minute before Mumbai FC new-signing Sandjar Ahmadi (20th min) equalised for the hosts four minutes later.
With one point from today's match, Mumbai FC stay in the fourth place, still unbeaten with six points from four games while United SC are at third in the table with seven points from four games.
The game burst into action inside two minutes when Vineeth did well to set up strike partner Ranti Martins. The Nigerian ran clear of his marker, defender Anwar Ali, to create space but his shot rebounded from the upright.
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