Al Muharraq edge out Mahindra United 1-0, enter Q-final

Margao, Apr 25 (UNI) Mahindra United went down fighting 0-1 to Bahrain league champions Al Muharraq in the crucial AFC Cup football tie at Nehru Stadium Fatorda here today.

Al Dakeel scored the all imporant goal for Al Muharraq in the ninth minute of the first half.

The Mumbai team could have won outright had they converted their scoring chances especially in the second half.

With this win, Al Muharraq qualified for the quaarter-finals from Group 'A' by maintaining their position at the top of the table after collecting 10 points with three wins and a draw from four outings. Mahindra remained on the third spot with three points from equal number of outings with three draws and a loss.

Lebanon's Al Ahed, placed second in the group with four points, will meet the Mumbai team on May 2 at the same venue.

Muharraq, who looked like bettering their performance in every outing, were outstanding today and shot into the lead as early as the ninth minute through Al Dakeel, who, after receiving a cross from the right flank by medio Abdul Rehaman Mahamood, shot into the net to make it 1-0.

Stung by the early debacle, Mahindra accelerated the pace of the game and could have equalised in the 25th minute when forward Yusif Yakubu laid a well-measured pass to Surajit Bose, but the latter's power-packed shot from the top of the box was smartly saved by Bahraini goalkeeper Althani Hassan.

The Behraini team had another chance to increase their lead in the 28th minute but home team goalkeepr Sandeep Nandy brought off a fine save off a powerful shot by Al Dakeel from the right flank.

Mahindra made three changes in the second half bringing in defender Rauf Khan, midfielders Stevan Dias and S Venkatesh and made a series of attacks. The jeepman came near to scoring on a number of occasions but faltered at crucial junctures.

In the 69th minute, Yakubu's attempted effort was foiled by rival defender Reyadh. Then in the 70th minute, S Venkatesh's long ranger missed the mark narrowly.

The last five minutes saw Mahindra making all-out efforts to find the equiliser, making a number of raids on Al Muharraq citadel. However, Yakubu wasted an open chance in the 87th minute from a Venkatesh pass, followed by Subhash Roy Chowdhary in the next minute, shooting straight into the hands of the rival goalkeeper.

Then in the injury time, Peter Siddique's close-range header from a Stevan Dias cross missed the mark narrowly. The absence of ace striker Jose Rameraz Barreto, who was nursing an injury, was very much felt by the Mumbai team today.

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