I-League:Dempo rally to hold ONGC

Dempo who are placed third, took their tally to 34 points from 17 matches from today's draw while ONGC who are placed seventh now have 21 points from 17 matches.

ONGC went on the offensive from the start with midfielder Jatin Bist coming close to scoring on couple of occasions. It was he who broke the deadlock in the 37th minute when he guided the ball into the net off a free kick taken by Eric Brown beating keeper Subbhasish Roychowdhury to have ONGC leading 1-0 at half time.

Dempo, who suffered a blow when defender Debrata Roy got injured and was replaced by Samir Naik, took time to settle down but found their momentum as the match wore on.

Climax Lawrence controlled the midfield sending passes to the strikers but found it difficult to get past the rival defenders who guarded their citadel resolutely.

Valeriano Rebello worked hard on the right to send couple of teasing crosses but rival keeper Rehaenesh T P came to his side's rescue denying Koko and Godwin Franco from scoring.

Dempo, who did not look threatening after the change of ends, tried to play Godwin Franco on the right flank but to no avail. They had a chance to restore parity soon after change of ends but Anthony Pereira shot was saved by the rival keeper.

However, it was in the stoppage time that they found the equaliser when Godwin Franco's shot at the goal was blocked by keeper Rehaenesh but the ball fell at the feet of substitute Peter Carvalho who tapped it into the net from close and gave his team a valuable one point.