I-League: Dempo and Salgaocar Play Out Goalless Draw
Dempo, who had the lion's share of ball possession, created more scoring chances but failed to get past Karanjit who brought off at least six saves to deny them the much-needed victory to remain out of relegation zone.
Salgaocar goalkeeper Karanjit Singh made some good saves to deny Dempo a victory as the Hero I-League match between the two sides ended in a goalless draw at the Nehru Stadium here on Wednesday.
Dempo, who had the lion's share of ball possession, created more scoring chances but failed to get past Karanjit who brought off at least six saves to deny them the much-needed victory to remain out of relegation zone.
With today's draw, both the teams remained on 18 points each from 18 matches. Dempo, who have a better goal difference, moved to eighth position. Salgaocar are below them on ninth, while Bharat FC are placed last with 18 points.
Both the teams started positively and matched evenly in the barren first half.
Salgaocar were more organized in attack but could not penetrate deep into rival box as Dempo defenders kept their striker Darryl Duffy in check.
Duffy, who was closely marked, had the first chance to put his team ahead but his try was well collected by Dempo keeper Laxmikant Kattmani off a pass from Rocus Lamare.
On the Other hand, Dempo came close to scoring twice but rival keeper Karanjit thwarted their attempts. He blocked a powerful long range shot from Pronay Halder and later, he made a diving save of a Tolgay Ozbey left-footed strike.
Dempo pushed Salgaocar on the backfoot in the second half and were all over the rival box but failed to find the elusive goal as keeper Karanjit came out with good saves to deny Jewel Raja, Pronay Halder and Tolgay Ozbey from scoring.
Tolgay was unlucky not to find the net towards the end of the match when he tried to flick the ball over keeper Karanjit from an acute angle on the left but the ball bounced from the crossbar and was later cleared by a defender.