Former champions Salgaocar Sports Club continued their dismal show and were held to a 1-1 draw by Mohammedan Sporting in an eighth National Football League match in Kolkata on Monday.
Sporting striker Syed Rahim Nabi found the target 16 minutes from close to cancel the lead taken by the Goa outfit through Jatin Bisht in the dying minutes of the opening session, in a drab Salt Lake stadium encounter.
Salgaocar shot into the lead in the 42nd minute when Bisht deftly placed the ball into the goal with his left foot following a low centre by Bernard Pires from the right.
The Sporting defenders were largely to blame for the reverse as they left Bisht unmarked to do the damage.
The local side restored parity in the 74th minute after Okoli Odafa's shot came off the body of Salgaocar custodian Rajat Ghosh Dastidar and Nabi tapped the ball into an open goal.
After 14 matches, Salgacoar have 18 points, while Sporting are four behind.
The match remained confined to the midfield for a major part of the opening half, with none of the teams making planned moves.
Salgaocar, who began with a 4-5-1 formation, keeping foreign recruit Jules Aliba as the solitary man upfront, had the slight edge in the first half, but the complexion of the match changed after the breather with Sporting upping the ante.
The Kolkata side's attacks lacked sting in the first half, though they came close to scoring on one occasion when Nabi missed a sitter.
Sporting could have ended the day with full points, but for Odafa, whose effort went past the post from close range.
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