Sporting club de Goa's [Images] hopes of retaining the second spot received a jolt as they were involved in a 2-2 draw with defending champions Dempo Sports club in the ONGC [Get Quote] Cup National Football league championship match in Margao on Thursday.

For Dempo, goals came through Ranty Martin in the 6th minute and Nascimento Silveira in the 80th minute, while for Sporting Edeh Chidi scored in the 47th and 86th minutes.

With this drawn match, Dempo (24 points) and Sporting (23)s maintained their position at the 3rd and 4th place respectively.

Dempo got off to an aggressive start with a good move as early as the 5th minute when Sameer Naik from the left flank sent a pass to Ranty Martin, whose hasty shot sailed over the bar.

In the next minute, Dempo shot into the lead through Martin whose header found the net following a flag kick taken by Robert Mendes Silva.

They could have increased their lead in the 37th minute of the first half when John D'cruze passed to Isfaq Ahmed who in quick succession switched over the ball to better placed Clifford Miranda but his feeble shot landed straight into the hands of Sporting goalkeeper Luis Barreto.

Sporting levelled the score in the 47th minute through Edeh Chidi, when Nicholas Rodrigues unleashed a shot which Dempo goalkeeper failed to grab, and slipped from his hand and went towards Chidi who was lurking inside the goal just tapped it into the net to level the scores at 1-1.

Dempo increased their lead in the 80th minute through Silveira.

However, Sporting restored the party in the 86th minute through Chidi whose long ranger shot found the net

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