Goalkeeper Asif Ansari, seemingly preoccupied with something else, blundered many times but was fortunate that Jet Airways could take advantage of only twice. Mellwyn Rosario and Joe Baretto capitalised on those mistakes and made their own which resulted in Jet's reduced margin of victory.

Baretto acted upon Parvesh Gurung's cross from the left in the ninth minute to open proceedings and then set up Rosario in the 22nd.

The meandering Ansari was almost punished for being too far upfront in the 33rd minute when Ryan Dabreo set up Rosario with a forward pass. The ball was too fast for the unsespecting Rosario even as Ansari scrambled back. The resultant shot missed the post by miles but Ansari had far from learnt the lesson.

Rosario's replacement Lloyd Pereira embarassed Ansari further in the 38th minute off a free-kick.The ball slipped out of Ansari's hands and would have slipped into the net but for the slush rendered by intermittent rain.

That was the last of a flurry of Jet attempts. Baretto ran along bravely from the left with some swift dribbles and the run left him with little energy as was obvious from his weak salvo. Moments later, Rosario tried a stern one that sailed over the bar.

Gurung missed having his name written on the scoresheets after a well-directed shot in the 20th minute that Ansari, for once, was on hand to tip over.

MTNL were denied by a robust Jet defence, Rahul Lingam and Dinesh Rego standing tall even as goalkeeper Mark Manchanda looked shaky. Lingam, however, blotted his performance with a bungle in the 38th minute but was fortunate to see Allan Rangnekar miss one more of the many chances he got.