Former champions Salgaocar, Goa, capitalised on defensive lapses to hammer Mumbai's Mahindra United 5-0 in an Oil PSU National Football League match at the Nehru stadium in Margoa, Goa, on Monday.
Salgaocar, who led 2-0 at half-time, scored through Tomba Singh (22nd), Sunday Seah (33rd), Climax Lawerence (75th) and substitute Sebastiao Endro (80th, 86th minutes).
Both the teams were reduced to ten men in the second-half when referee Krishan Avtar gave marching orders to Salgaocar's Samson Singh and Mahindra's Peter Siddique for physically charging at each other.
Mahindras, who delayed East Bengal's party in their last match, started off well initially as they made inroads in the rival goal with long passes and nearly scored twice but Samson was unlucky on both the occasions as his tries hit the post.
Salgaocar played swift short passes and slowly settled down and after these close shaves made a counter move and surged ahead in the 22nd minute. Dharamjit Singh, from the right, sent a cross where a rival defender left Tomba Singh free. The last-named nodded home from close.
Eleven minutes later, Dharamjit again exploited the gap in the rival defence as he sent a deep cross to Sunday Seah, who chested before sending a right footer into the net to have Salgaocar leading 2-0 at half-time.
Mahindras came off with a counter move and had a chance to score in the dying minutes of the first-half but substitute Jinto Jose failed to capitalise after Tomba Singh fumbled in clearing the ball to safety as he ballooned the ball over the bar.
After the change of ends, Mahindras' woes were compounded after defender Peter Siddique got marching orders as their defenders allowed lot of space for the rivals to exploit. Man of the Match Climax Lawerence, who controlled the midfield along with Jatin Bist, repeatedly exploited the gaps in the Mahindra defence.
Salgaocar increased the lead when Climax raced into the box off Sunday Seah pass to find the net.
Five minutes later, Dharamjit floated the ball to Climax, who headed down to substitute Sebastiao Endro. Endro didn't make any mistake and shot home from close.
Salgaocar kept on the pressure and Endro scored his second goal off a Climax pass to compound Mahindras' misery.
