Calcutta: It was again exhibition of missed chances. Following which, the lowly placed Tollygunge Agragami failed to get out of the relegation zone after a goalless draw with Vasco in their penultimate tie in the eighth National Football League at Salt Lake Stadium on Tuesday.

It was hard to imagine that this Goan outfit had pumped in five past Mohun Bagan just a few days back. Apart from few flashes of brilliance from Marcos Parreira and Edson Castro, they played percentage football and collected a point to remain in the safe zone.

The local team appeared better focussed, in both sessions of the match. It was the inability of their forwards that denied them a goal. Tollygunge, trying to launch attacks from the flanks, were successful in reaching the goalmouth first in the 14th minute. A Sandip Das pass was intercepted well by Gouranga Dutta inside the box, but his right-footer lacked direction.

Samshi Reza, Dutta and Habib Ali tried to find Akeem inside the box through the aerial route but the Nigerian was outnumbered by the Vasco defenders on every occasion.

The Tollygunge midfielders did everything they could but the inefficiency of the forwards prevented them from getting the all important goal.

Akeem missed another easy chance in the 33rd minute, when Kabjit Khotel crossed the ball into a melee from where the striker tried to connect a volley but failed.

In the very next minute, Vasco replied strongly through Sushant Mathew. Marcos, after getting the ball from Mathew, covered Tollygunge defender Ebi Bar Bar well and slotted it to the right of goalie Chinmoy Banerjee. It was sheer bad luck that the ball hit the upright.

It is true that a few moves created by Castro and Marcos threatened the Tollygunge goal, but apart from that it was mostly the home team calling the shots.

This was echoed by Tollygunge coach Krishnendu Roy. “Yes my boys played well but got only one point which is not enough to save us from relegation,” Roy said.

He also admitted that after this draw, they are in a more troublesome position than Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting. “Had we won today, Mohun Bagan would have been under pressure,” he added.

On the other hand, Vasco coach Derek Pereira expressed satisfaction. Vasco are on 25 points from 21 matches while Tollygunge have 20 in their kitty with one match left.

TEAMS

Tollygunge Agragami: Chinmoy Banerjee, Kabijit Khotel, Ebi Bar Bar, Isiaka Awoyemi, Amitava Chanda, Napolean Singh, Sandip Das, Samshi Reza, Gouranga Dutta, Sheikh Habib Ali (Jiten Rai, 53, Amit Das, 74), Akeem Abolanle.

Vasco: Rogerio Ramos, Selwyn Fernandez, Seby Dias, John Dias, Agnelo Colaco, Sushant Mathew, Levy Coelho (K. Ajayan, 68), Vinu Jose (Menino Fernandez, 61), Kamal Thapa, Edson Castro (Sukhwinder Singh, 82), Marcos Pereira.

Referee: D. Nair (Gujarat).