Khalid Siddiqui (left) and Sunday Seah in a tussle for the ball at the Salt Lake Stadium on Friday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: He was one of the best in business when it came to scoring goals. And it was sad sight when Jamshed Nassiri’s wards missed one chance after another to hand leaders Dempo a 1-0 victory in their National Football League match at the Salt Lake Stadium on Friday.

Nassiri had said on the eve of the game that the only thing that is hurting Mohammedan Sporting in the NFL so far is their inability to convert the chances. And his players proved on Friday he had hit the nail on the head.

The black-and-white brigade had at least five clear chances in the second session, but they were unable to neutralise the Sunday Seah strike in the 17th minute. With this loss, Mohammedan Sporting stay on six points from eight games while Dempo are well in the lead with 20 from the same number of games.

In spite of the Mohammedan Sporting dominance in the second session, it would be wrong to assume that Dempo didn’t play well.

They looked very organised in the middle-third, increasing men in attack quite effectively. The Goa side was playing a good passing game in the first session and the way they utilised free-space was quite a sight.

R.C. Prakash and Seah were showing good cohesion on the top of the penetrative zone and with the likes of Mohammed Gaffari and Sameer Naik doing a good job in the midfield, their dominance was not really questioned in the first 45 minutes.

But Mohammedan Sporting added an extra man upfront in the second session and went all out for the kill. Passes started flying in from all quarters, but the attackers were never upto the mark.

Nassiri said at the end of the match: “Had I been playing in place of Chidi Edeh, I would have scored at least twice.”

And he was not wrong at all. In the 48th minute, Bungo Singh’s centre from the right found Edeh in the open, but his side volley missed the mark. He missed another in the 51st minute, but the most glaring was the one in the 90th minute.

Amjad Ali Khan’s centre found Edeh free but his feeble header from the top of the six-yard box was not powerful enough to test Abhijit Mondal.

Dipendu Biswas, on whom Mohammedan Sporting depended a lot, didn’t play too well in the first session. But still, it was quite surprising why he was substituted with Khalid Siddiqui, who was just not good enough. Sheikh Sanjib was brought on in the 81st minute, but the coach would have done well to have him right from the beginning.

Meanwhile, the goal that Mohammedan Sporting conceded could easily have been avoided.

Madhab Das, who was marking Seah in the penetrative zone, for once left the Liberian free. And the striker met Clifford Miranda’s free-kick from the left and tapped the ball into the open net.

TEAMS

Dempo: Abhijit Mondal, Valeriano Rebeto, Stanley Colaco, Phillip Gomes, Melvin Rodrigues, Sameer Nail, Mohammed Gaffari, Nacimento Silveira, Clifford Mirandaq (Raju Singh, 70), Sunday Seah (Ishfaq Ahmed, 88), R.C. Prakash.

Mohammedan Sporting: Gumpe Rime, Amjad Ali Khan, Amandeep Singh, Madhab Das, Hossain Mustafi, Abu Bakar Godwin, Okoli Onyeka Odafa, Bungo Singh, S. Rahim Nabi (Sheikh Sanjeeb, 81), Chidi Edeh, Dipendu Biswas (Khalid Siddiqui, 46).

Referee: S. Suresh (Tamil Nadu)