FC Goa played out a goalless draw against Mumbai FC in a closely-contested Hero Indian Super League fixture at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa on Sunday.
The draw takes Mumbai FC to 10 points from seven matches to remain on fifth place while FC Goa continued to occupy the bottom spot of the league table with five points at the halfway stage of the tournament.
FC Goa made two changes in their playing eleven, bringing in Bikramjit Singh and Tolgay Ozbey in place of Jewel Raza and Ranty Martins and they had better ball possession with fluent short passes. But, their moves fizzled out once they reached the rival box as they failed to get past the strong Mumbai FC defence.
FC Goa had their first chance to surge ahead when a move from the left saw Mandar Rao lay a pass to Bikramjit Singh whose shot missed the target narrowly.
The visitors, who looked dangerous on the counter, caught the FC Goa defence napping on a couple of occasions. Once, Deepak Mondal found the net after he was set up by Andre Moritz but was ruled off side by referee Jarred Gillet.
Nicolas Anelka was kept quite for some time by Goa defender Youness Bengelloun but came on his own as he laid an overhead pass to Johan Letzeiter whose effort, however, went over the bar. Anelka later set up Nadong Bhutia, who also failed to control the ball and was dispossessed.
Luck also did not favour the home team as Gregory Arnolin header off a Bruno Pinheiro flag kick from the left hit the cross bar soon after resumption.
With time running out, Goa FC made frantic efforts to find the match-winner and nearly succeeded in the dying minutes but rival keeper Subrata Paul made no mistakes to collect a Ranty Martins header in the injury time.
FC Goa coach Zico was disappointed once again as his forwards failed to score when chances came their way.
"I have tried with all the strikers but if they cannot score what can I do. During the training session I told what to do but if they keep on committing the same mistakes I can do nothing," Zico said.
"The first leg got over and we are placed at the bottom with five points. But I am confident that we still have chance to move up and qualify for the semi-finals when the second leg starts," said the legendary Brazillian.
Delhi Dynamos play out yet another draw against Kerala Blasters
Delhi Dynamos continued with their winless streak as they played out a goal-less draw against Kerala Blasters in a high-intensity Hero Indian Super League match in Kochi on Sunday.
After their back-to-back defeats at the hands of FC Goa and Mumbai City FC, Delhi Dynamos were searching for a win to boost their confidence but yet again had to settle for a draw in the match which also saw their head coach Harm van Veldhoven being sent off.
The Dutch coach was given marching orders by Indian referee Pranjal Banerjee for kicking the ball at the sidelines as he expressed his frustration apparently after a free kick was denied in the 74th minute of the match watched by nearly 35,000 crowd at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
Delhi side's birthday boy Alessandro Del Piero made the starting eleven but the Italian legend, who turns 40 on Sunday, continued his search for form as he could not make much of an impact in the match.
With the draw, their fourth in the tournament so far, Delhi Dynamos remained on seventh spot in the eight-team league table with seven points from seven matches. They have won just one match and lost twice. They have not won for four matches on the trot.
Kerala Balsters are just above the Delhi side at sixth spot with eight points from seven matches. They have won twice, drawn twice and lost thrice.
