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Osian's New Delhi Heroes and Air Force XI held their nerves in the penalty shootouts against their respective opponents to move to the final qualifying stage of the Osian's Durand Cup qualifiers at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday.
While New Delhi Heroes got past Indian National FC 5-4, Air Force XI emerged winners against Simla Youngs with a 5-2 scoreline.
Pushpender Kundu was the villain for the Indian National FC as he missed the final penalty shot to give Osian's New Delhi Heroes the ticket to the final match of the qualifying round.
The match was stretched to penalty shootout after scoreboard remained blank in the regulation time thanks to some brilliant saves by custodians of both the teams.
Air Force XI came from behind to stretch the match to penalty shootout as Kalyan Pal scored the equaliser in the 52nd minute after Adizua Philip had put his team ahead in the 28th minute.
Simla Youngs choked under pressure as their strikers could convert only two of the five shots while the airmen were bang on target on all shots taken.