Goan clubs Dempo and Vasco recorded contrasting victories to garner full points in their opening group encounters in the 116th Durand Cup Football tournament at New Delhi on Sunday.
Dempo thrashed Indian Bank, Chennai, 3-0 in Group 'B' while Vasco defeated J and K Bank, Srinagar 1-0 in Group 'D' of the quarter-final league.
Vasco, who finished third in last year's National Football League, seemed out of sorts and even 'uninterested' in the proceedings as they scrapped passed the qualifiers with a lone goal margin.
The Goan outfit never looked like they had control on the game against an opponent which also seemed satisfied with defending their castle than going on the attack.
The lone goal of the tie came when Brazilian Carlos Roberto headed home a rebound in the 31st minute. The bankmen's goalkeeper, Vikramjeet Singh, was the culprit as he failed to collect a long shot from Agnelo Colaco, which popped up in front of his goal mouth.
Vasco had only three more tries at the opponent's goal in the first half including a 25 yard hit by Indian international K Ajayan, which struck the crossbar.
The second half was a drab affair with no team even managing to make the opponent's custodian work for a save.
Earlier, Dempo recorded an easy victory over Indian Bank thanks to a brace by R C Prakash in the 52nd and 56th minute.
Dempo dominated the game for the entire 90 minutes and were leading 1-0 at the break through a goal by their Nigerian recruit Sunday Seah in the 21st minute.
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