A fine brace by T Akum Ao enabled Assam Rifles, Shillong, script an upset 2-0 victory over two-time champions Mahindra United, Mumbai, while TFA (Jamshedpur) and Ever-Ready, Kolkata, played a goalless draw in quarter-final league matches of the 118th Durand Cup football tournament at the Ambedkar stadium in Delhi on Saturday.
The Mumbai team, now virtually out of the competition after today's loss, had to pay a heavy price for underestimating their opponents in the first quarter of the match.
The Group C match began with Mahindra dictating terms in the early minutes, with their frontline trio of Jose Barreto, Yusif Yakubu and Ganriel Umeh making some threatening moves. But they failed to give finishing touches, with Umeh and Yakubu wasting half chances in the 14th and 17th minutes, both missing the target from close.
The nippy Assam Rifles matched the physical and aerial superiority of their rivals by playing fast and short passes, though they had to employ defensive tactics in the second half to stop the Mahindra forwards.
Akum Ao put his team into the lead in the 31st minute against the run of play through a long range rasping shot some yards from the box and the ball went past the rival goalkeeper, who was positioned well in front of the goalline, into the right top corner of the net.
The Mumbai defenders were to blame for the second goal of the Shillong side in the 45th minute. A long clearance from the Assam half saw Akum and Mahindra captain Peter Siddiqui chasing the ball. But the nippy Naga player outran his rival, took a right-footed shot that hit goalkeeper Roy Chowdhury, but still landed on the feet of Akum, who slotted it into the empty net to the delight of partisan crowd.
Trailing 0-2 on resumption in the second half, Mahindra pressed hard to come back into the match and made repeated forays in the rival area, but their efforts were thwarted by the crowded the Assam defence which left only Akum upfront for counter attack.
Mahindra tried to create openings with one-to-one passes only to be thwarted time and again by Thaithaiba Singh, Nauba Singh and D Mukhim at crucial junctures.
With four points from two outings, Assam Rifles, which drew with Mohammedan Sporting on December 8, are sitting pretty on top of their Group. The Kolkata giants have to beat Mahindra by a margin of three goals to book a place in the semi-finals when the two teams meet on December 12.
The Ever-Ready TFA match was a mediocre contest, as both teams could not create many chances. The match never really produced any exceptional moments, much to the dismay of the spectators.
