Impressive Dempo remain unbeaten

Bambolim: It is not often that you see goalkeepers scoring without venturing in the opposite half. But Samik Mitra did the unthinkable, with help from his counterpart, as Chennaiyin FC held Dempo SC 1-1 in their final Super Cup group fixture at the Athletic Stadium, here, on Friday.Shubham Rawat provided Dempo the lead with a powerful freekick in the 25th minute, but four minutes later, Samik collected the ball off a Dempo set piece and shot from inside his zone towards forward Irfan Yadwad.The ball bounced over Dempo keeper Ashish Sibi, who mistimed his run with onrushing Irfan in sight, and entered the goal.Thereafter, the concluding group-stage clash with both teams fielding domestic players failed to meet any conclusion.At the start of the tournament, nobody gave Dempo a chance, with the likes of Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan SG and East Bengal in the same group. But Samir Naik’s team proved critics wrong and finished their campaign unbeaten with three draws.Dempo were the only I-League side in the group after they replaced RKFC.The former national league champions did not have foreigners but didn’t complain. They were determined to prove their worth and did so in their first two games.

But with hardly anything to fight for against Chennaiyin, Dempo lacked the intensity they displayed in their previous two games. They missed centre-back Mohamed Ali, their only experienced player, due to suspension. But the young side played their hearts out against their Indian Super League (ISL) opponents, who were the first team to be knocked out of the tournament.Dempo had to win by five goals to stand a chance to qualify for the knockout stage, never an easy task against any side.

Then, they had to hope the Kolkata derby ends in a draw, which it did.Samir’s side was disciplined from the start and did not give Chennaiyin any space to move freely. In the 25th minute, Kingslee Fernandes fouled Dempo’s Amay Morajkar on the edge of the box. Shubham quickly picked up the ball and set it up for the set piece. His right-footer simply sailed over the wall and evaded keeper Samik. Chennaiyin bounced back soon enough through an unlikely source as Samik’s goal kick proved fruitful.Thereafter, the match was even poised.In the final quarter, Samir made three changes and introduced Laximanrao Rane, Kapil Hoble and Nestor Dias in midfield but the five-time national champions couldn’t finish on a winning note.