The home team held a distinct edge over the proceedings and should consider themselves a bit unfortunate not to get full points after having played with ten men over the last half an hour.

A double booking for Bijoy Basfore during the course of the clash, at the end of which they earned a point to boost the points tally to 18, left the airmen one man short from the 15th minute of the second half.

Dempo, who had the chance to leapfrog Mumbai FC and occupy the fourth slot with a victory here, failed in their bid and have drawn level with the latter with 23 points to their credit.

The outstanding players for AI today were goalkeeper Arup Debnath who came out with a couple of stunning saves in the second half, and stopper back Amulya Mondal who was playing in his first match in the tournament. The AI defence with Mondal excelling in it, effectively bottled up rampaging Nigerian striker Ranty Martins and Brazilian Roberto Silva, giving the duo very little leeway.

Nigerian Michale Tayo fluffed the first good chance that AI secured quite early when he was out of position to receive a header off Kailash Patil following a throw-in. Later in the second half, Dempo goalkeeper Abhijit Mondal came to the Goans’ rescue by blocking a header from Gauranga Biswas off a chip by Patil.

Then came the two fine saves by AI custodian Debnath who foiled Roberto by tipping his shot, following a corner kick from the right, over the bar and then made a similar effort to frustrate Martins who essayed a bicycle kick. These two brilliant efforts came before Basfore was given the marching orders following his second booking, having been shown the yellow card for foul play midway through the first half.

Despite missing several key players and then forced to play with only ten men in the wake of Basfore’s ejection, the airmen managed to keep the slate clean till the end.

Struggling Mahindra take on Mohammedans
A struggling Mahindra United, with just four wins from 15 ties, are hoping to put behind their goal-squandering ways and strike at the opportune time in their I-League match against promoted outfit Mohammedan Sporting here on Saturday. With just 17 points in their kitty, five of them through drawn encounters, Mahindra need to approach the 16th round match against the Kolkata rivals with their guns blazing and convert the half chances to notch up their fifth victory.