A lacklustre Mahindra United struck late to edge past Chirag United Sports Club 1-0 and book a berth in the quarter-finals of the 28th Peerless Federation Cup football tournament in Kolkata on Monday.

After being held goalless by their unfancied opponents in the first half and a greater part of the second session, the defending champions succeeded in breaking the deadlock when N P Pradeep found the target in the 79th minute of the tournament opener at the Salt Lake stadium.

As the Mumbai outfit appeared to be running out of ideas to run through the gritty defence and brilliant goalkeeping efforts of the local club, Steven Dias let go a measured flag-kick from the right that saw Pradeep come from behind and out-jump a couple of rival defenders to head home.

The story of the 90 minutes was recurring duels between the Mahindra attackers and Chirag goalkeeper Sibram Dey and his replacement Pralay Dutta.

Mahindra had the lion's share of exchanges and ball possession in both sessions, but it was in the second half that their raids gathered steam.

However, both Dey and Dutta stood out as they thwarted at least half a dozen goal-bound efforts from the Mumbai side.

The IFA Shield winners were unlucky in the 23rd minute when K Ajayan, who worked tirelessly in the midfield to feed the strikers, saw his low right-footer hit the upright after beating a diving Dey.

Chirag, fourth in the Kolkata premier division league, played defensively realising the futility of going all out against their formidable opponents. They attacked in patches on the break, but their forwards could do little as they found themselves outnumbered in the striking zone.

• Complete football coverage