Mahindra third best in Federation Cup

Kolkata, Dec 29 (UNI) Mahindra United edged out Dempo 4-2, via the penalty shoot out, to bag the third place in the 28th Peerless Federation Cup at the Salt Lake stadium here today.

90 minutes of regulation time and half an hour of extra time failed to break the deadlock as both teams experimented with their line-up and game itself. The fact that they were out of the title race added to increased inertia in the match.

In the penalty shoot out, rookie custodian Subhashis Roy Chowdhury brought out a brilliant save to deny the experienced Climax Lawrence from scoring. Lawrence's shot had the power and direction, but the custodian guessed it right, and made it 'advantage Mahindra', diving to his right and emerge as Mahindra's hero.

For Mahindra, Yusif Yakubu, Steven Dias, S Venkatesh and Rauf Khan did well to score from the spot, but for Dempo, only Roberto Silva Mendes and Ishfaq Ahmed could find the net. As Melvin Rodrigues missed Dempo's fourth shot, the jeep-men broke out in a frenzy of celebrations.

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