Mapusa: Nerul Sports Club surprised Siolim Sodiem Sports after securing a narrow 9-8 win via the sudden death to storm into the final of the Saligao United Cup 2008 at Ca-langute Association grounds on Saturday. The teams were level 1-1 at the end of regulation time.
Siolim were put into the lead in the 10th minute by Mahindra Harmalkar who neatly found the net after receiving a pass from Roger Fernandes.
Two minutes later, Vijay Dessai could have leveled terms for Nerul but was denied by a brilliant save from Siolim goalkeeper Kashinath Chodankar.
In the 20th minute, Nerul striker Abhijit Govekar saw his blistering shot miss the target by a whisker.
On crossing over, Nerul kept themselves in the hunt for the equal-izer and finally snatched it in the 45th minute through Deepraj Sangel-kar who took utmost advantage from a miss clearance by Siolim de-fender Manoj Goltekar.
With the scores leveled, the tie-breaker system was implemented where Nerul emerged victors, scoring through Janifer, Felix, Deepraj, Radhakrishna, Dyaneshwar, Raya, Xavier, Avinash. Mukund, Mahin-dra, Prestonio, Anthony, Mayur, Nitesh and Kashinath converted for Siolim.
In the final, Nerul will face the winners of the second semi-final be-tween Nagoa SC and Arpora Sporting.