Substitute goalkeeper Subhashish Roy Choudhury was Mahindra United's hero for the second successive match as he took the Mumbai outfit to the final of the Federation Cup football tournament after a 3-1 penalty-shootout victory over Goa's Dempo Sports Club in Ludhiana on Wednesday.
Roy Choudhury's antics before every kick -- jumping high, somersaulting and hanging from the crossbar -- seemed to have unnerved the Dempo penalty kickers, as three out of four came unstuck.
Mahindra will meet East Bengal in the title clash on September 15, and will be bolstered by the return of their influential midfielder Steven Dias, who missed the semi-final after getting two yellow cards.
But they will miss the services of India team stars N P Pradeep and Ajayan Nair, both of whom got their second yellow cards of the tournament.
For Mahindra, N P Pradeep, Harpreet Singh and D S Djiaja Pierre converted in the shoot-out while only Edeh Chidi could beat the Mahindra 'keeper in the tie-breaker.
Roberto Silva had his shot saved when the keeper guessed right and dived to his left. Climax Lawrence hit his shot over the bar. And when Ranti Martins's effort was blocked, the Mahindra team rushed to engulf Roy Choudhury.
The match had finished 1-1 after 90 minutes and extra-time.
Mahindra went ahead through a Manjit Singh goal in the 32nd minute. But the Goa team, after missing at least three good chances early in the match, drew level through Roberto Silva in the 38th minute.
Mahindra United coach Derrick Pereira brought on Roy Choudhury in place of Sandip Nandy in the final minute, a repeat of the move which reaped dividends in the quarter-final against Sporting Clube de Goa.
The match, a clash between the National Football League champions of the past two seasons, never rose to any great heights and was marred by needless fouls.
Mahindra took the lead against the run of play through a nice piece of inter-passing and brilliant finishing.
Congo's Minga Edson Dico laid a long, diagonal chip over the Dempo defence for Manjit Singh and the Punjab player took a first-timed shot from the right edge of the box which beat Abhhijit Mondal in the Dempo goal and found the top left corner.
It was a mirror image of a move few minutes earlier when Manjit had played a similar pass to Dico, only for the African to hit wide.
The goal hit Dempo hard, as they had clearly dominated the early exchanges and had the Mahindra defenders and custodian Sandip Nandy under pressure.
The Mumbai outfit could have doubled the lead with a repeat of the move that got them the goal but this time, Manjit's shot was saved by Mondal.
But Dempo, the reigning NFL champions, were soon on level terms thanks to a defensive mistake.
Martins took a shot on goal from the left side of the box and Nandy fumbled, resulting in a goalmouth melee. Silva capitalised on the lapse to restore parity.
The playmaker did not get much joy otherwise as he was tightly marked throughout the contest.
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