They may not be the most beautiful team to watch but they have certainly displayed the efficiency that one associates with the Mahindras.

With the exit of stars like Mahesh Gawli, Abhishek Yadav, Surkumar Singh, S Venkatesh and N S Manju at the start of the season, no one gave Mahindar United any chance of making an impact this year. But the Mumbai outfit has responded to doubters in the best possible manner.

They have reached their second consecutive final — Federation Cup and Durand Cup — and will take on Churchill Brothers for a possible third Durand Cup title tomorrow at Dr Ambedkar Stadium.

But with only one goal in three matches, that too a penalty conversion, to beat Border Security Force in the last-16 stage, the Mumbai outfit has had to rely on their prowess in tie-breakers to make it to the title round.

Mahindras will also have a big hole in their so far watertight defence — they are yet to concede a goal in the tournament — as India international N P Pradeep has been ruled out with a hamstring injury while Gautam Debnath is yet to recover from a blow to his head sustained against Sporting Clube-de-Goa in the quarter finals.

“Losing Pradeep is a big setback for us as he is the main player for us in defence,” Derreck Pereira, the coach of Mahindra United, told The Indian Express on the sidelines of a training session.

Sunil Kumar and Dharmaraj Ravanan will man the back-line and would be in charge of the unenviable task of curbing the threat from Churchill Brother’s Nigerian hitman Odafe Onyeka Okolie, who has emerged as the top scorer in the tournament with 10 goals in just three matches.

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