Defending champions Mahindra United beat Mohammedan Sporting 2-1 to enter the semi-finals of the 28th Peerless Federation Cup in Kolkata on Friday.

The teams were locked goalless till the 89th minute before three goals had the sizeable crowd at the Salt Lake stadium on the edge of their seats.

Nippy striker Manjit Singh put Mahindra ahead, but the lead was cancelled by Sporting's Habibur Rahman Mondal.

However, Ghanaian Yousif Yakubu clinched the issue for the visitors by nodding home seconds before the end of injury time.

In the second match of the day, Sporting Clube de Goa [Images] edged past Salgaocar Sports Club 1-0 to also make it to the semi-finals.

Nicholas Rodrigues scored the all-important goal from a free-kick in the 102nd minute to show Salgaocar the door in a floodlit encounter.

After the action moved into extra-time with the two sides locked goalless, Rodrigues curled the set-piece from 30 yards and the ball dipped at the right time to fly into the Salgaocar goal.

Salgaocar were the better team on view in the first half, but Sporting bounced back after lemon time to carry out several incisive moves into rival territory.

The tough match saw players of both sides losing the cool and the worst came when Sporting's Bello Rassaq hit Salgaocar's Felix in the eye during a pushing bout.

The match also had to be halted for about 15 minutes in the first half as some of the floodlights went off and the ground plunged into semi-darkness.

Mahindra, who had seized the initiative in the second session after a lacklustre show till half-time, drew first blood in the 90th minute as Manjit made amends for an unimpressive showing earlier.

Receiving the ball at the top of the box, he headed towards James Singh and positioned himself in an advantageous position to latch on to the return pass before firing a rasping right-footer that rocketed into the near corner of the net.

As the match rolled into injury time, Sporting's Bijen Singh addressed a centre from the left and Jatin Singh Bisht headed the ball down for Mondal to score with a snap side volley and draw the home team level.

As the match seemed headed to extra-time, Susanth Matthew did the spadework from the right and dodged past two defenders to feed Yakubu, who headed the ball home in a flash.

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