Mahindra United prolonged their unblemished record in penalty shootouts today to pip Goan outfit Salgaocar 4-2 and set up a final showdown with Churchill Brothers in the final of the 120th Osian’s Durand Cup football tournament.

But besides the spotless show in the shootout, there was hardly anything to write home about Mahindra’s insipid performance today. The fact that the Mumbai side reached the final scoring just one goal in regulation time in the entire tournament, speaks volumes of their style of play and ‘ability’ to find the net.

Churchill grounded Air India 3-2 after twice coming back from deficit. It was Churchill’s top shooter Nigerian Odafe Okolie who rescued the Goans, scoring the winner with nine minutes left on the clock. With 10 goals in three matches, Odafe remains the top scorer in the tournament by a huge margin.

Air India went ahead early when Dhanchandra Singh cleverly headed in a Santosh Koli free-kick from the left flank. The Goan outfit, which had steamrolled the opposition in the previous two matches, was shocked into launching repeated attacks and reaped rewards for their audacity through an equaliser 10 minutes later. A dipping free-kick from outside the area by Odafe was intercepted and headed towards the post by Gourmangi Singh. Custodian Raju Ekka blocked the lanky defender’s first attempt but the rebound went in off Gourmangi’s body.

The strike by Churchill again spurred Air India to go all out and the Mumbai-based side regained the lead through another set piece. This time a free-kick from Napoleon Singh from near the right touchline was brought back into the six-yard box by Nigerian Bashiru Abbas and a diving Koli managed to head past goalkeeper Vinay Singh. Churchill coach Mario Soares then replaced custodian Vinay with Lalit Thapa.

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