Mahindra United enter semi-finals

Margao:

Jose Ramirez Baretto's brace guided Mahindra United to a convincing 4-2 win over fighting Hindustan Aeronautics Limited en route the semi-finals of the 27th Federation Cup Football Tournament played at Nehru Stadium here today. All the goals came in the first half with Baretto (15th, 36th), Steven Dias (19th) and N S Manju (21st) scoring for the jeepmen while Sunil scored a brace in the 22nd and 34th minute to reduce the margin for HAL. S Venkatesh of Mahindra United was adjudged as man-of-the-match. After seeing HAL playing a defensive game in their last match against Dempo, Mahindra played an attacking game with three strikers. This strategy of Mahindra coach Derrick Periera helped as the jeepmen took an early lead in the 15th minute. Venkatesh, who controlled the midfield along with Baretto, initiated the move from the right and gave a pass to Subhas Chakraborty who send a low cross from the right to Baretto who headed in. Four minutes later, Steven Dias incresed the lead when his shot from the top of the box hit the right post and landed into the net off a pass from Venkatesh. Mahindra piled pressure on their rival and scored one more goal when N S Manju found the net with a header off a free kick taken by Steven Dias. However, after Mahindra defence looked relax following the goal, HAL shed off their defensive approach and attacked the rival goal to reduce the margin through Sunil's brace who first beat keeper Sandip Nandi with an angular drive off Janny Freedy pass in the 22nd minute and then scored again in the 34th minute. (PTI)

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