Playing upfront alongside Stanley in Itaue’s absence, Romeo ran out of luck in both halves — as his first shot on target rebounded off the upright in the 11th minute and then a header kissed the same. In between though, his awry strike, after being saved by Garhwal goalkeeper Ram Pal Prasad, was netted in by Zaheer Abbas — with the mud at the goalmouth restricting Prasad to recover in time.

Everything to do
Gaingamlung Kamei was often left out with everything to do in the opponent box during the first 45 minutes, despite being marked by Gagandeep and Manoj Joshi. Defender Gagandeep used his height to great advantage in containing Kamei and bettered it while discovering his striking abilities — scooping a long throw from Santosh over Prasad through a header in the 81st minute. After the interval, Kamei’s run inside the box was checked further and Garhwal’s problems aggravated with their midfield losing possession. Their opponents continued with the entertainment quarter. The referee’s decision to award a spot kick to Heroes as Ajit Singh handled the ball inside the danger area, drew flak from both the crowd and Garhwal coach Ravi Rana.

But Stanley’s shot rebounding off the bar initially and Prasad opening up the goal after slipping at the brink of the Nigerian’s 71st minute conversion, mellowed down the heat. Despite all denials though, ND Heroes went a step ahead in their title defence with 14 fourteen points from 6 matches.