Mahindra United and South Africa's Santos Football Club on Wednesday set up a summit clash after winning their semifinal encounters in the 113th IFA Shield Football tournament.
Mumbai's Mahindra pipped Goan rivals Churchill Brothers 5-3 via tie-breaker and Santos fought off a second half resurgence from Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan to win 4-2 at the Barasat Stadium.
The Mahindra-Churchill battle rolled into penalty shootout after the two rivals were locked 1-1 at the end of regulation 90 minutes, and half an hour of extra time failing to break the stalemate.
For Mahindra, NP Pradeep, Yusif Yakubu, Manjit Singh, Harpreet Singh and Mohammad Rafi converted the set pieces.
Mboyo Iyomi, Thangjam Singh and Khemtang Paite were successful in the penalty shootouts for Churchill, but the Goans were let down by Govin Singh, whose shot came off the upright.
With Mahindra taking an unassailable lead, Churchill's fifth penalty became redundant.
Earlier, after a barren first half, Churchill shot into the lead in the 71st minute when Iyomi banged a direct free kick into the net.
Hardly had the celebrations died down in the Churchill bench, the jeepmen got the equaliser with Manjit Singh heading home a Steven Dias cross in the next minute.
The second match, played under lights, saw Santos racing to a 2-0 lead at half time, and netted a further insurance goal in the second session, as all hopes seemed lost for Bagan.
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