Mohammedan Sporting broke a 14-year jinx to reach the final of the Tata Federation Cup final, pipping Kolkata rivals Mohun Bagan 5-4 via the tie-breaker after a marathon semi-final in Kolkata on Tuesday.
Seasoned Bagan medio Basudeb Mondal scored the crucial fifth penalty wide to end his side's campaign in the tournament and send Sporting to the final, where they will play the winner of tomorrow's last four exchange between Vasco Sports Club and Mahindra United, on August 9.
The shoot-out had to be resorted to as both sides finished goalless after 90 minutes full-time and half-an-hour of extra-time also failed to break the deadlock.
Hussain Mustafi, Amandeep Singh, Amjad Ali Khan, L Akbar Singh and Arjan Ali converted the penalties for Sporting while Jose Barreto, Renedy Singh, Marcos Pereira and Sunil Chhetri found the mark for Bagan, before substitute Mondal played the villain.
Sporting, whose last final appearance in the tournament was way back in 1989, where they finished runners-up to Salgaocar, looked the better side in the first half but were pushed into the defensive by their fancied opponents in the latter session of the flood-lit Salt Lake stadium encounter.
The black and white brigade were reduced to ten men in the second-half of injury time when Nigerian defender Habib Adekunle was sent out by FIFA referee K Shankar after picking up his second yellow card for obstructing Marcos. The Nigerian was booked first in the 40th minute for bringing down the same player.
Sporting's win prompted immediate celebration in the gallery where a 55,000-strong crowd witnessed a ding dong battle amidst a charged atmosphere.
Soon after, hundreds of Sporting supporters invaded the turf, defying the large number of security personnel posted at the field.
Earlier, some heated exchanges between the players in the middle and the referee's decision to give Habib the marching orders incensed the Sporting supporters, who threw crackers on the athletic track surrounding the ground, before the police rushed into the stands to push them off.
Egged on by their supporters, who were in majority, Sporting siezed the early initiatives in the game, carrying out a number of combined assaults into the Bagan half.
In the very first minute, medio Bungo Singh, the livewire of the Sporting mid-field throughout the tournament, moved into the box from the right to address a pass to Khaled Siddique, who shot wide.
The tentative looking Bagan defence got another scare in the very next minute as Syed Rahim Nabi, fed by Siddique, unleashed a quick left footer that went off the target.
Attacking mainly from the right, where Bungo and Sanjib drummed up a good combination, Sporting continued to maintain territorial sway on the much improved track, while Bagan looked rudderless in the mid-field and the striking zone.
In the 11th minute, another Sporting attack saw Hussein Mustafi essay a cross, which Bagan goalkeeper Arindam Ghosh tried to block but only succeeded in palming the ball away as far as Nabi, whose prompt left-footer ended off the mark.
