Vasco, Mahindra United in goalless draw

The two sides had clashed in the sixth round, and, like today, the match ended with neither team able to crash the defences.

Mahindra, who have played 17 matches, now have 18 points, while Vasco, who have played one match less, are on 24.

In another match, league leaders East Bengal beat Air India 3-1 to increase their lead at the top of the 12-team league.

East Bengal led 1-0 at the breather.

Falguni Datta, Shuanta Catta and Carlton Chapman scored for the winners while Ratan Singh accounted for Air India's goal.

Mahindras came into this match after a confident, rousing 4-0 win over title-contenders FC Kochin in Kochi. However, they seemed satiated by that and hardly showed any hunger for another victory. An off-target header by Bernard from outside the box, a brilliant 35-yarder by substitute Syed Hussain and another short haul by Abbas Ali Rizvi were the only entries they could show on the credit side. Both the shots were brilliantly saved by Vasco's Brazilian goalkeeper Rogerio Ramos.

Debutants Vasco were the more aggressive and imaginative at the start of the match. They appeared to be playing with only three defenders and gave Bibian Fernandes a free role on the right flank. They had only one genuine striker in Peter Rodrigues and the rest were crammed in the midfield, which was marshalled brilliantly by the dimunitve Gregory Clarke and Brazilian Ronaldo da Silva.

With the Mahindra not keen on challenging in the midfield and content to check Vasco while defending, the Goan players enjoyed a free run with Clarke, Bibian Fernandes, Daniel Colaco and Ravi Babu sending a number of through passes. Intelligent use of the width of the field also meant that the pressure was on the Mahindra defenders all the time.

Yet, with a one-man attack, Vasco could never translate their midfield aggression into chances. They had all but one good effort for the entire match and that too came off a dead-ball situation. Ronaldo's 35-yard short saw Sunderraj Rajan anticipating and neatly making a good collection.

The only amusing incident in the first half was when referee Arup Chakraworthy blew for the break six minutes before time. Gestures from the bench and quick thinking by reserve referee B. Bera saw the match continuing after some embarassing moments for the referee.

Mahindra brought in Rizvi and Manjit Singh for Raman Vijayan and Mohd. Najeeb in the second half. Yet, their attack lacked sting, primarily because of little effort from midfielders Aqueel Ansari and Habib Adenkunle, both of whom seem to be having complementary roles.

Bernard, playing in the right-half position, had some good runs but none so threatening to the Vasco side.