A 86th minute goal by Mahindra United defender Lamine Tamba helped the jeepmen to snatch a point against Viva Kerala.
A 86th minute goal by Mahindra United defender Lamine Tamba helped the jeepmen to snatch a point against Viva Kerala in a Round 17 tie of the ONGC I-League played at the EMS Stadium here on Monday.
After a goalless first-half, Karma T put the home side in front scoring in the 61st minute.
Lamine Tamba equalised for Mahindra in the dying minutes as David Booth’s boys remain second in the standings with 30 points.
Mahindra received the first shock of the match in the seventh minute when Viva’s wing-back Noushad forced custodian Subhashish Roy Chowdhury to make an excellent save. In the 19th minute, Patrick Sisupalan’s tap in hit the post.
For the jeepmen, Rafi’s free header missed the target in the 20th minute, their first chance in the first-half.
In the 38th minute, Sushanth Mathew had a chance to score in to a free post but Viva defenders were able to clear it off the line. Rafi went clear of the Viva defence in the closing minutes of the first half but Sharath advanced from his goal to clear the ball from the striker’s feet.
Viva Kerala’s Rahul, who scored the goal against Churchill Brothers in the last match, got injured in the start of second-half and was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.
Just 16 minutes in to the second half, Sakeer and Karma played a one-two which allowed Karma to pull off a shot with just the goalkeeper in front. He made no mistake. Mahindra coach Booth brought all his substitutes in to the match in the 68th minute.
Ravanan, Svetozar Mijin and Thoi Singh replaced Debabrata Roy, K Ajayan and Steven Dias, respectively.
The substitutions brought some much-needed flair into the Mahindra attack and it almost produced a result when Rafi was found by Paresh Shivalkar in the penalty area.
86th minute saw five Mahindra players attacking a free kick from just outside the box. Rafi was the first to hit the target by his head, but Sharath K punched the ball out. Shivalkar headed the ball back in to the box and it was Lamine Tamba who finally headed the ball into the goal.
Mahindra could have retained their top spot from Dempo SC but will now sit at the second position, two points behind the leaders.
Viva’s Charles Dzisah bagged the Man of the Match award for his solid performance at the back.
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