Mahindra United displayed thrust and punch to blank Air India 3-0 and sail into the semi-finals of the Tata Federation Cup football tournament in Kolkata on Saturday.
Air India made valiant efforts to match their fancied opponents, but were done in by inept shooting in a fast paced clash between the two Mumbai sides at the Howrah Municipal stadium.
James Singh, S Venkatesh and Togo recruit Raphael Patron scored the goals for Mahindra, who will now take on the winners of the last eight clash between East Bengal and Vasco in the semi-final on August 6.
Mahindra's first goal came in injury time of an entertaining first session, which saw the ball constantly travelling from one end to the other with both sides creating some good moves.
Jules Alberto Dias essayed a measured floater from the right and Patron jumped but missed the header. The speedy James Singh, who had sneaked into the box from the left, headed into the net.
James had a good day on the field, as other than scoring the goal, he also played a pivotal role behind the other two goals scored in by his team.
The airmen raised their game by a notch in the initial part of the second session, but Mahindra regained control over the proceedings as time wore on.
They scored the insurance goal in the 67th minute when James crossed from the right and Patron sold a nice dummy to let Venkatesh free inside the box. The lanky medio, who played for East Bengal last year, kept his cool and put the ball home.
Three minutes from the long whistle, Mahindra made it 3-0 through their hard-working medio Patron after Arun Malhotra set him up to tap home from close.
