Round 12:
First match after the halfway stage and that too away, Mahindra and Mahindra were beaten by State Bank of Travancore at Thiruvananthapuram. SBT, the onlyside in fray with players from state as all hail from Kerala, managed to beat the jeepmen by a solitary goal by the nippy and upcoming T. Ashif Saheer. While the result upped SBT's growing reputation, Mahindras' performance was being questioned in away matches. The match was also marred by stone-throwing incidents and some pushing and jostling of the referee by the Mahindra players.
Defending champions Salgaocar were able to reverse the trend of losses and draws with a narrow victory over East Bengal at home. Medio Dharamjit Singh scored both goals for the goans while ghanian Willy Brown squeezed one in between. The match was heading for a draw when Dharamjit struck for the second time in stoppage time.
Champions of the first year, JCT kept their home record intact with a goalless draw against FC Kochin. The result did neither side any good and it only made things difficult for the southern pro outfit.
Bangalore outfit ITI remained as enigmatic as they were at the start. They made things difficult for the apparent champions-in-waiting Mohun Bagan before succumbing 1-2. Igor Shkvyrin and Basudeb Mondal scored for the Calcutta outfit while Yusuf Mohd. Netted for ITI.
The most surprising result came at Ludhiana when Border Security Force took a point off favourites Churchill Bros. with a late penalty strike by Satwinder Singh. Truly, teams have found it difficult to perform in the cold of the north.
Dempo remained the whipping boys as Tollygunge Aggragami won 1-0 at Margao. Their captain and most solid player Chandan Das scored the matchwinner.

Round 13:
The downward plunge of East Bengal and rise of of State Bank of Travancore should mark as the highlights of Round 13 of the National Football League which ended last week. Barring FC Kochin and Dempo Sports Club, whose match scheduled at Kochi on February 8 was not held, all other 10 teams have completed their engagements. The result, however, would not affect the top five positions which means Mohun Bagan, who had taken the lead after the halfway stage, continue to be where they are with 28 points, one point ahead of Churchill Bros who have started with a stutter.
Mahindras, who had lost to State Bank of Travancore at Thiruvananthapuram in the 12th round, came back into the fray with a lucky win over East Bengal at home. They continue to be tigers at home with four wins, three draws and only one loss in matches at Cooperage. There was confusion over the goal-getter which eventually has been credited to Mahindras' wily schemer Aqueel Ansari whose chipped shot went into goal via East Bengal defender Ranjan Dey's header.
Mohun Bagan's win over Salgaocar at Calcutta was being spoken as the final of the NFL. Though Salgaocar held sway when it came to ball possession, it was Mohun Bagan who scored, both goals coming from Brazilian striker Ramirez Barretto. He showed his prowess with both legs on the first goal. He pounded the goalkeeper Jujje Siddi with a right-footer and then slammed a left-footer off the rebound. Truely vintage stuff.
The defending champions, Salgaocar, are in the throes of a rut from which coach Shabbir Ali will have to pull all stops to rally his side. Else they could sink pretty quickly. Having beaten East Bengal at home in the 12th round, Salgaocar were expected to extract revenge for their 0-1 loss against Mohun Bagan at home. But it was not to be.
Jagatjit Cotton Textile Mills, the champions in the inaugural year, are also on the trail of the leaders. This is very commendable as like SBT and BSF, they are the only side to have homegrown players. Using the cold and wintry conditions at home to their advantage, JCT beat ITI 1-0.
Goan champions Churchill Bros. put their surprising 1-1 draw at Ludhiana against Border Security Force behind them and beat Tollygunge Aggragami 2-0 at home. Goals came from the fast-improving and consistent Rocky Baretto, his fifth this NFL, and also Uzbeki Andrei Malchevky. The goal-drought for Francis Silveira is cause for worry for Churchill coach Danny MacLennan.
Coming to SBT, the surprise packet, they are pushing themselves into the favourite slot with back-to-back victories in the last two matches. No major names but for stopper-back Jiju Jacob and goalkeeper Feroz Sherif, yet coach Mohd. Najeeb, the former India player, has great confidence in his nondescript team.

Round 14:
Bottom-placed Dempo came with a shocker of a win, beating East Bengal by a convincing 2-0 margin at Goa. Totally unexpected for most teams were using the goan outfit to up their morale but the red and golden brigade only pulled themselves deeper into a quagmire of uncertainity. When coach Subhash Bhomick was asked about the tie in Margao, his comment was totally diplomatic "let's hope so". Unfortunately it happened the other way around and helped Dempo to move up from the bottom of the table, finally. Now there are strong rumours that Dronacharya awardee, Syed Nayeemuddin, former national coach is returning back to coach East Bengal. Typical knee-jerk reaction.
Mahindra and Mahindra did their growing reputation no harm by a sound thrashing of JCT at Ludhiana which is the first loss for the home side at this venue. Their earlier home loss against Salgaocar had come in New Delhi during the inaugural match of the 4th NFL. When JCT lost to Mahindras in Mumbai, coach Sukhwinder had commented that his side simply did not play well and he could not assess the rivals at all. Now everybody is asking is Sukhwinder the national coach or Harish Rao of Mahindras. Some compliment this.
Tollygunge Agragami and ITI played out a scintillating match in Calcutta with the former winning 4-2. they showed tremendous fighting and staying abilities by clawing back after trailing 0-2. Coach Amal Dutta's nondescript side is certain to send the shock waves.
Churchill Bros avenged their 1-3 away defeat with a solitary goal over SBT in Goa. It helped them get past Mohun Bagan who too were stunned by FC Kochin. The only goal of this Calcutta match came via the boots of the redoubtable I.M. Vijayan, named as footballer of 1999 by the All-India Football Federation.
Defending champs Salgaocar struggled against this time against another bottom-placed side Border Security Force. The cold northern winter coupled with rain made things difficult for all teams. The match was heading for a 1-1 draw when Jules Alberto, a non-performer this season, got the matchwinner in stoppage time which seemed to have been extended quite unnecessarily longer than needed.

Round 15:
If there are any doubts that Churchill Bros. are really the champions in waiting, they laid it to rest with a scinitillating display against Mohun Bagan at Calcutta on Thursday. Francis Silveira, a.k.a. Pocket, getting into the scorebooks again would have brought the smiles back on the face of coach Scotsman Danny Maclennan. Silveira, who began with a bang scoring four goals including a hat-trick against Dempo in their opening match, had last scored on January 11 against Border Secuirty Force and had gone scoreless for eight matches after that.
The Mohun Bagan-Churchill clash is one of those battle-within-battle matchups and it only increased the facevalue of the Goan champions as they fought back twice to draw parity. Mohun Bagan surely missed their Brazilian striker Ramirez Baretto who did not play due to an injury. If Churchill come out of their February 21 clash against East Bengal unscathed, it'd would give them all the confidence on the home run. For, their forays into Calcutta have always not brought good results. In this year's league, they have beaten Tollygunge 1-0 and now a 2-2 draw. The results meant that Churchill maintain their wafer-thin margin of two points but with a superior goal difference of +8.
Mahindras continue to be in the third place and a disputed offside goal saw them hold draw with Tollygunge Aggragami, who according to coach Harish Rao, have always given them trouble. Manjit Singh struck a brilliant header from the top of the box and Kajal Bhattacharjee equalized. Seriki Abdullatheef's header was disallowed as the assistant referee had ruled offside, controversially. Coach Amal Dutta was furious with the decision and came close to suggesting a conspiracy against smaller teams.
A true picture of positions no. 3 to 5 could not be ascertained as FC Kochin's home match against Salgaocar on Valentine's day was postponed. According to NFL chairman, Mr. Alberto Colaco, Kochin's two postponed matches including one against Dempo is now likely to be held before the final round pushing the last date of the matches to around March 22 or 23.
Jagatjit Cotton Textiles struck back after their stunning 0-3 cave-in against Mahindras by getting the better of statemates Border Security Force. It kept them in the fourth spot, one point behind Mahindras.
What is happening to State Bank of Travancore. The Thiruvanthapuram outfit which ran up a healthy 14 points in the first stage and then began well with victories over Mahindras and Border Security Force got their second successive loss to East Bengal. The fortunes of the red and golden brigade was lifted by a super hat-trick by Brazilian Ossius Ferreira who was preferred due to an injury to Willy Brown. Playing against Mahindras in Mumbai, the Brazilian hardly looked impressive and even coach Subhash Bhowmick said so. But he has pulled a rabbit out of the hat, so to say.
ITI and Dempo played out a goalless draw at Bangalore. The result did not help either team but caused more harm to ITI whose goalkeepe Balaji came to their rescue with some stunning saves. ITI are stuck at 12 points and still need eight more to avoid relegation.

Round 16:
Calcutta clubs, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan are cutthroat competitiors. Not a quarter is given nor a quarter asked. But in the 16th round of the National football league, East Bengal did their rivals a big favour by defeating favourites Churchill Bros who we were expecting to come out well from their Calcutta sojourn. With a win against Tollygunge and an exciting 2-2 draw against Mohun Bagan but they floundered against the red and golden brigade who were just beginning to get their feet back. Ossius Ferreira, who had a got hattrick against State Bank of Travancore, scored one and Dipankar Roy, the impressive medio, the other.
Churchill who were two points ahead of Mohun Bagan saw them being pushed to the second place as the Calcutta outfit defeated Dempo Sports Club by a solitary goal. The win was a laborious one for Mohun Bagan who were expected to swamp the minnows.
Mohun Bagan and Churchill have now placed themselves in the driver's seat as Border Security Force did them a favour by pulling off a shocking 2-0 win over Mahindra and Mahindra at Ludhiana. In coach Harish Rao's own words, his players were extremely mediocre. The win must have given BSF some hopes of remaining in the premier league.
Thanks to their statemates' efforts, former champions JCT made it to the third spot with a 2-0 win over State Bank of Travancore whose fortunes have taken a nose-dive in the second phase where they have now lost three consecutive matches. It was a contest between two teams restricted to only Indian players and national coach Sukhwinder Singh's JCt came out triumphs.
Salgaocar, who have an additional match against FC Kochin in hand and have played only 15 so far, did their chances no harm with a 1-1 draw at home against Tollygunge Agragami. Bruno Coutinho seems to be back in coach Shabbir Ali's favour and the former India captain set up Dharmajit Singh to score.
Tollygunge coach Amal Dutta had commented that his first task was to ensure against relegation and anything more would be a bonus. At 21 points, it is anybody's guess where the third side from Calcutta would finish.
Like JCT and East Bengal, another team to come back into the fray is the star-studded FC Kochin under the baton of T.K. Chathunni who joined just a few days before the start of the NFL. Now that their home matches have been shifted to Thrissur, it made no difference to them as Kochin shunted out ITI through a Isaac Tondo goal. Kochin missed I.M. Vijayan who had to sit out with two yellow cards and also midfielder-schemer Tejinder Kumar had an ankle injury.

Round 17:
Has Mahindras and Mahindras run out of steam? This is the question uppermost in the minds of Mumbai football lovers after their favourite side lost their second consecutive match in the second phase, this time to champions-in-waiting Mohun Bagan at their home ground at Cooperage. Following their surprise 0-2 loss to Border Security Force at Ludhiana in the 16th round, Mahindras lost 0-1 to the Calcutta champions in the 17th round.
This has not only marred their chances of winning the title but also partially closed the doors on the runners-up spot. They will not only have to win their remaining matches, no mean task this as only one of their five are at home, but also hope that the other sides in fray have some reverses.
The one to gain the most in this round was Jagajit Cotton Textile Mills, Phagwara. They notched up their second consecutive win at home with a 2-0 margin over minnows Dempo Sports Club. Their only `away' match in the second phase has been against statemates Border Security Force, which means their last six matches have been at Ludhiana. Four victories, one draw and a loss to Mahindras is their second phase record.
Though Mohun Bagan managed to earn full three points against Mahindras, it did not come easily. It was a struggle all the way as their weak defence, manned by Sammy Omollo and Hussain Mustafi who was playing in place of the suspended Debjit Ghosh, gave anxious moments to coach Subroto Bhattacharya. The former India defender felt that any team getting 43 points should win the title.
Following their loss to East Bengal in Calcutta, Churchill Bros. had another setback to their chances when FC Kochin held them to a 1-1 draw at Thrissur in Kerala. Mohun Bagan have opened up the one-point to a three-point lead. Scottish Danny MacLennan has always felt that Indian players simply do not have the mental ability to remain focussed. Hopefully his players will prove him otherwise.
Shabbir Ali's Salgaocar huffed and puffed to a 2-1 victory over ITI at Goa. Their performances have simply being going downhill though they are still in contention as they still have an additional match in hand. Currently they are in the fourth position behind Mohun Bagan, Churchill and JCT.
East Bengal too are closing in the middle rung with three back-to-back victories. They followed up their wins over SBT and Churchill with another home win over Border Security Force, again at home.
Tollygunge fought another grim battle to get past SBT whose fortunes are simply going down and down. Trailing 0-2, Tollygunge got two goals in stoppage time to win 3-2. In the 15th round, Tolly had another `mother of all battles' while defeating ITI 4-2.
SBT, who had lost their opening four matches have now lost their last five and are stuck at 20. It will ensure that they remain in the NFL next year too and that's what every coach is aiming at first.

Round 18:
Salgaocar have bounced back with back-to-back victories. The results of 2-1 against ITI and 1-0 -- the last one on a penalty by Gbenga Lawal -- may not have been very encouraging but the six points that coach Shabbir Ali's men have gleaned from this must have put leaders Mohun Bagan and Churchill Bros. in a spot of bother too. Moreso because Salgaocar have an additional match in hand against FC Kochin who themselves have done pretty well.
Kochin have 25 points and two additional matches against Salgaocar and ITI and both at home. They are on a roll currently and that should help the southern pro outfit to score in both. This week they beat their statemats SBT for whom it was the sixth consecutive loss at Thissur. It was a well contested match as the 3-2 scoreline indicates. the interesting thing of the match is that Liberian goalkeeper Sunday Seah scored his first goal. Coach T.K. Chathunny has done this in earlier matches too. He starts off with Seah in the goal and when the situation gets desperate, sends in Naseem Akhtar or Saji Joy and puts Seah upfront. This is the liberian's first goal however. The loss meant that Mohd. Najeeb's SBT are stuck at 20 since the last six rounds.
Mohun Bagan continue to march on and on. Subroto Bhattacharya's grin is spreading farther from ear to ear. A workmanlike 2-0 win over Border Security Force at home ensured that they are always ahead of their goan rivals. Stephan Abarowei and Dipendu Biswas got the goals.
The loss to Salgoacar at goa may have arrested JCT's progress. however they need not worry as Mahindra and Mahindra seemed to have run out of steam. They played the proverbial piper at Bangalore and were held goalless by Indian Telephone Industries. this certainly has marred their chances of finishing in the top five now. off the next four matches only one, against Dempo, is at home. The rest are all away and tough matches for the jeepmen.
Tollygunge and East Bengal played out a boring and listless goalless draw at Calcutta. The match has done more harm for Indian football and than for the teams. Tolly coach Amal Dutta has reduced his side to a defensive outfit even though they have some skilful players Chandan Das, Kajal Bhattacharya and proven foreigners like Abdullatif Seriki, Isiaka, Felix Abayomi et al. The rumour mongers have it that Dutta is simply doing it to satisfy his ego and trying to protect his place. For whoever, Tolly has attacked they have done well, like against ITI and SBT.
Young Rocky Barreto, the former Tata Football Academy product who played for FC Kochin last season, is proving to be the star of the NFL. He got his seventh goal as Churchill beat Dempo. Topscorer Francis Silveria is on 9 and has scored only once in seven second phase matches. Against Dempo he missed three sitters and a penalty too.

Round 19:
Mumbai outfit Mahindra and Mahindra achieved two things last week on their second trip to Goa. First they achieve a 1-0 win, truely a surprise result, over Churchill Bros. it helped them avenge a 0-2 defeat at home at the start of the NFL.
More importanly, Mahindras have played benefactors for Mohun Bagan whose position surely has strengthened at the top. if Mohun Bagan conjure up a way to lose from here, they don't deserve to play football. At 41 points from 19 matches, the Calcutta side just needs five points from the remaining three matches to ensure their second title victory.
Churchill coach Danny MacLennan, the Scotsman, worst fears must have come true as Manjit Singh struck around the closing period. The loss to East Bengal in Calcutta in the 16th round has turned things around for the goan champions. even their second position is under threat with Salgaocar, Mahindras and FC Kochin hot on their trails.
Mohun bagan had got their part of their script right with a comprehensive and complete victory over Jagatjit Cotton Textile Mills, Phagwara, 3-1 at home. goals came from Igor Shkvirin, Rajindra Prasad Singh and Basudeb Mondal and coach Subroto Bhattacharya is close to being hailed as the best in india, as it happens normally.
The defending champions Salgaocar, who are still one match behind the rest, beat SBT 4-0. Not only did they get three valuable points but, more importantly, saw four different players get into their scoring list. with an average of just one goal a match, salgoacar coach Shabbir Ali, who recently admitted that the title is certainly beyond their reach now, would be wondering the reasons for the glut earlier in the NFL.
FC Kochin, who can still reach the no.2 position as they have two postponed matches in hand, scored an important 3-1 victory over Tollygunge Agragami in Calcutta. The third side from Calcutta are a dangerous outfit and twice have staged comebacks to get past stick opponents at home. so Kochin, for whom Isaac Tondo got two and I.M. Vijayan one, can really gauge their luck.
Easy bengal's run of three successive victories which was brought to an end by Tollygunge in the 18th round were held to a 1-1 draw again by ITI at Bangalore. The one point that ITI gained from this match would have boosted their confidence of staying back in the NFL.
Dempo did their cause to retain their NFL berth all harm by losing to BSF at home. surely they are on their way to Division II.

Round 20:
So, another NFL and another disappointment for Churchill Bros coach Scotsman Danny MacLennan the former Glasgow Rangers goalkeeper. When after defeating Mahindras in Mumbai we asked him if they are on the road to victory, Maclennan guffawed in his own inimitable style. Perhaps at the back of his mind he knew that the Churchill players simply do not have the necessary temparament to last the distance of four months. Wonder what would happen to them if the All India Football Federation on recommendation of the Asian Football Confederation extend the league by a further two months.
Anyway, Churchill dealt their chances of coming out tops a body-blow when they committed suicide at Bangalore on Sunday against Indian Telephone Industries. Leading by a Marcus Carvalho first half goal, Churchill captain Osumanu Husseini sent the ball into his own goal for ITI's equalizer. And, then, R.C. Prakash got the matchwinner late in the match. These three bonus points would have helped ITI get that little bit away from Border Security Force with whom they will be fighting relegation. Dempo of Goa who have nine points and lost to Salgaocar narrowly in Goa are certain to be demoted.
Mohun bagan had of course had got their part right by defeating State Bank of Travancore in Thiruvananthapuram. For the past eight rounds or so, SBT have been completely depleted with injuries to key players and their defence which has been their strongpoint have also failed. A combination of these two factors has resulted in SBT losing seven consective matches in the second phase after two wins.
Mahindra and Mahindra, contenders at the end of the first phase of 11 matches, are now pushing hard to finish in the top three and with a little luck would be able to manage it. They have been away for the last 12 days when they played three matches. After losing to Mohun Bagan at home, the jeepmen drew with ITI at Bangalore beat Churchill Bros at Goa and then slammed two past FC Kochin at Thrissur where the latter's home match continue to be played as the Nehru Stadium in Kochi is recovering from India's splendid win against South Africa in a one-day match.
M. Najeeb must have had a axe to grind against his former club when he scored both for his side. After five goals in the first phase including three in one match against Dempo, Najeeb had gone scoreless since January 19. But at Thrissur, it was his and Mahindra's day. Kochin still are in the fray as they have four matches in hand which will be completed in the next 13 days. If they manage to sustain, FC Kochin can emerge in the top three as well.
The start of the 20th round had two miserable draws - East Bengal and JCT at Calcutta and Tollygunge Agragami and Border Security Force also at Calcutta. After the loss to Mohun Bagan, JCT gained nothing from this match apart from the one point. East Bengal are also stuck in the seventh position just ahead of Tollygunge.
And now the question is whether Salgaocar can stretch the inevitable till the 21st and 22nd rounds. For if they drop a point to FC Kochin on March 15 at Thrissur or Kochi, wherever the match is played, Mohun Bagan will begin victory celebrations.

Round 21:
Between March 15 and March 23, before the last start of the final rounds, there were two additional matches for FC Kochin, the postponed ones against Salgaocar and Dempo, both at home. It was tough asking the southern outfit to play four matches in just 11 days, sending them away once to the north against Border Security Force at Ludhiana.
But more than FC Kochin, the focus was on Salgaocar for if the defending champions ended up on the losing side at Thrissur they would have handed over the title to Mohun Bagan on a platter. The former champs had got their part right in the previous round with a 3-0 win over State Bank of Travancore at thiruvananthapuram. The Calcutta maidan and pertinently the Mohun Bagan tent was agog with excitement, everybody waiting eagerly for the result from Thrissur. A 2-0 verdict it was in a cauldron for Salgoacar with FC Kochin scoring through Isaac Tondo and Noel Wilson.
Mohun Bagan were now untouchable and they could breath free for their last two matches 'home' against East Bengal and Tollygunge. Salgaocar coach Shabbir Ali admitted that his side played very poorly and also that the smouldering heat also caused much problems. The week before, in the 20th round, Mahindras' Jordanian striker Bassam Khatib had to be hospitalized due to dehydration. So one could well imagine the plight of the Salgaocar players.
Now FCK had a chance to finish second, pipping both Churchill Bros and Salgaocar. But for that they had to get past Border Security Force at Ludhiana. From 37 degrees the Kochin players went to 16 degrees up north and found it difficult to acclimatize quickly. BSF, who had beaten Mahindras, scored another shock win at home to quell Kochin's hopes. Kochin then went on to trounce four against Dempo at home which made their goal-average better than former champions Jagatjit Cotton textile Mills, Phagwara.
If the Mohun Bagan fans were hoping for the victory celebrations against arch rivals East Bengal on March 22 at Calcutta, it did not happen as the red and golden brigade had other designs, scoring a 3-1 victory to douse the enthusiasm of the maroon and green followers.
The first match of this round proved to be a major disappointment for Mahindras who sleepwalked their way through for a goalless draw against Dempo. Manager-turned-coach Harish Rao was always worried about the matches against the smaller teams and that's what happened. The goalless draw was a major blow in their bid to go for the second and third places.
Following the defeat against FC Kochin, Salgaocar returned home for their Derby clash against Churchill Bros. I watched the match in the Nehru stadium at Goa. Churchill came strong with their body language and simply overwhelmed them 2-0 with goals from Marcus Carvalho and Andrei Malchevky. Now Churchill were assured of the third spot and would clinch the second spot with a draw against JCT in the final round.
State Bank of Travancore were involved in another high-scoring game with 4-3 win over Indian Telephone Industries. Earlier they had lost 2-4 to Tollygunge and 2-3 FC Kochin.

Round 22:
To avoid chances of match-fixing, the National Football League Committee had all the matches of the last round to start at 3 p.m. (all the grounds also do not have floodlights). Two matches were to be held on Saturday, March 25, while the remaining four were on Sunday.
More than the Churchill-JCT clash at Goa, interest homed on the Ludhiana clash between Border Security Force and Indian Telephone Industries. The Bangalore outfit (17 points) needed only a draw while BSF (16) had to win to prevent relegation. ITI could not play for a draw for the simple reason that the approach would have cost them hard. Moreover, BSF had had some good results at home. The match ended in a goalless draw and it served ITI's purpose.
So this year, BSF who along with State Bank of Travancore, gained promotion will return to division II next year. ITI coach A.D. Nagendran, who had hoped that his side would have finished in the top six at the start of the league, had to be content with the 10th spot.
In Goa, Churchill took their second spot with a convincing 3-0 win over JCT. Goals came from Rocky Barretto (his eighth), Somatai Shaiza and Francis Silveira, at last going to 10. He had last scored on February 17 in an away match against Mohun Bagan and had gone scoreless for six matches, even missing a penalty against Dempo. Unfortunately, Silveira's position at the top was not to last long.
So on to Super Sunday (March 26) with Salgaocar playing Mahindras at Goa, Mohun Bagan vs. Tollygunge at Calcutta, FC Kochin vs. East Bengal at Thrissur and SBT vs. Dempo at Thiruvananthapuram.
SBT were assured of their ninth spot regardless of the result of the match. I, for one, thought that their striker S. Ignatious had a wonderful chance to go up on the scorer's list. Ignatious was only on eight but he was up against a depleted Dempo outfit who had not only lost their foreign coach, Iranian Ahmad Sanjari, but also their Iranian players. All of them had to return due to visa problems. Strangely, Ignatious failed to enter the scoresheets as the match ended in a 1-1 draw with Asif Saheer scoring for SBT and Levy Coelho for Dempo.
Mahindras, no. 3 at the halfway stage, had the outside chance of finishing in the same spot at the end of this marathon league. They had to beat Salgoacar and also hope that East Bengal down FC Kochin. The jeepmen received unsolicited help from East Bengal who won 2-1 at Thrissur but Mahindras themselves ended up on the losing side 2-4 to Salgaocar.
The match was off with a bang with Mahindras scoring in the second minute through Abbas Ali Rizvi. Now, Mahindras had won both their previous two matches against Dempo and Churchill Bros. in Goa and were keen to finish with an all-win record at the Nehru Stadium.
But Salgaocar, who only needed a draw to finish third overall, finished off Mahindras in a 15-minute blitz when they got goals through Sherifdeen Adenekan, Joao dos Santos and Dharamjit Singh. Mahindras had a depleted defence as Christopher Ihegborow and Ramesh Razak had to sit out with yellow cards. Salgaocar scored once more through Bruno Coutinho before M. Najeeb reduced the margin further with his eight goal.
At Calcutta, Mohun Bagan played true to form and dished out a champagne 4-0 win over Tollygunge with the hustings packed with maroon and green floats. Two goals from Uzbeki Igor Shkvirin and one from Brazilian Jose Barreto assured Mohun Bagan full three points and also the former the golden shoe award for the highest number of goals - 11. He will receive Rs. 1 lakh.