A late goal by R C Prakash helped a ten-men Dempo rally and hold Mahindra United to a 2-2 draw in an 8th National Football League match at the Nehru stadium at Margao, Goa, on Thursday.
Dempo, who beat Mahindra in the first leg, dictated terms in the first half and took the lead in the 44th minute when a fine move from the right saw defender Sameer Naik send a low cross to Clifford Miranda, who guided the ball into the net.
Dempo suffered a jolt in the first half injury time when defender Bolaji Majekodunni got marching orders from referee A Arjunan for a hard tackle on Jinto Jose.
Bolaji unintentionally hit Jinto on the face while going for an aerial ball after Jinto stooped low to retrieve it.
Mahindra utilised the one man advantage and pressed more men upfront after the break, bringing in Felix Aboagye and Steven Dias in place of Jules Dias and Jinto Jose. Pressing hard to find the equaliser, the Mumbai team succeeded in the 68th minute when lanky Abhishek Yadav headed home a fine cross.
Ten minutes later, Yadav gave Mahindras the lead as they camped in the rival half. He shot home from close after a fine move between Raphael and Venkatesh.
But Dempo did not lose heart as they made swift counter moves and restored parity four minutes from end when Prakash vollyed home with a sliding kick to beat 'keeper Naseem Akhtar all ends up off a cross from substitute Alex Ambrose.
Dempo remain on top of the table with 23 points from 12 matches while Mahindra have 20 points from as many matches.
Dempo made their intentions clear from the start as they made inroads into the rival half with astute passes but fell apart in the final passes as they failed to get past the last rival wall who caught them in the off-side trap often.
Mahindra, who played a waiting game, could have taken the lead midway into the first half when Abhishek Yadav set Venkatesh free inside the box with a long lob but his header hit the bar and off the rebound Raphael shot over.
Dempo kept up the pressure and came close to scoring twice but Sunday Seah failed to find the target.
Sameer Naik, who overlapped often on the right, came up with a fine move when he set Clifford Miranda with a low cross from the right and he made no mistake in finding the net with a diving header.
But the change of ends saw Mahindra putting the pressure on their rivals who were reduced to ten men at the end of the first half.
