Exploiting Salgaocar's momentary defensive lapse, Mahindra United staged a superb comeback to score a 2-1 victory in an eighth National Football League, at the Nehru Stadium in Margao, Goa, on Sunday.
Salgaocar, who are hovering around the relegation zone, went for the kill from the kick-off and managed to grab the initiative early in the second half when Tomba Singh's 40-yard strike left Mahindra's custodian stranded.
The local outfit dominated the visitors throughout the first half and would have scored at least a couple of goals more, but for Jitin Bist, who missed the sitters.
Mahindras, who had given a good account of themselves in the AFC Cup Championship, beating Dhoffar (Oman) and holding Al Wahda (Syria), were kept on tight leash by the rival defence as they did not allow them much room to operate in the danger zone.
But a momentary lapse by the Salgaocar defence allowed Raphael Patron Akakpo to equalise before the break and Abhishek Yadav added insult to injury when he broke the offside trap to score the winner in the 52nd minute.
The Mumbai outfit is now in third place with 30 points from 17 matches while Durand Cup champions Salgaocar remained in ninth place with 18 points in as many outings.
