I-League champions Dempo SC made a mincemeat of 10-man United SC with a brace each from Ranty Martins and Roberto Mendis Silva to register a thumping 5-0 win in a Group A match of the 30th Federation Cup at the Vidyasagar Krirangan in Barasat on Sunday.
In another match, played under floodlights, State Bank of Travancore (SBT) held Mumbai FC 3-3 which saw the former pulled off two goals in the dying minutes.
With Sunday's win, Dempo are almost assured of their place in the last four.
It was Joaquim Abranches who drew the first blood for Dempo in the 22nd minute before the goal flurry dashed the hopes of Subrata Bhattacharya's boys to make it to the semifinals.
Bhattacharya's ploy never worked was on target as Goans dominated after taking the lead.
The United's defence led by the Nigerian duo of Ayeni Bidemi Daniel and Louis Nigi Ebami was too porous for Ranty, who made a comeback recovering from his hamstring pull, to sneak past in every possible way.
It all started via a 22nd-minute free kick from 30 yards which was taken by Roberto Mendis Silva. Utilising it to maximum, Abranches deceived United SC defenders easily to give the team a 1-0 lead.
Abranches was instrumental in doubling the lead as Ranty utilised the former's centre from the right that left the four defenders surprised. It was too easy for Ranty to finish with a clinical header to open his account in the 34th minute.
After the lime break, Brazilian medio Roberto, displaying some delightful skills, headed their team's third goal in 53rd minute.
Eleven minutes later, Ranty completed his brace as the United onslaught continued unabated. Roberto completed the rout in the extra time of the match off a Climax Lawrence hit that hit the crossbar. However, an alert Roberto found the net from the rebound.
In the second match of the day, Kalia Kulothungan gave an early lead in the seventh minute to see Mumbai FC go 1-0 up. After 21 minutes of tussle, SBT brought out the equaliser through Martyn John in the 28th minute.
Locked 1-1, the match went into the second-half with Mumbai FC looking to dominate the proceedings. As it turned out an own-goal from Paul Anthony, SBT went down 1-2 in the 57th minute. The unprecedented lead put some momentum back on the David Booth's boys who slammed home through Ahmed Felix Aboagye in the 70th minute as they look to settle the issue.
However, fate had something else at store for them as they Mumbai boys, who were this year's I-League qualifiers, brought themselves back into the game by a Kannan R strike in the 90th minute of the match.
A penalty in the second minute of added time shattered Booth's hope of getting three points from the match as M Abdul Basheer scored from a penalty to help SBT held the Mumbai boys 3-3.
