Singapore Armed Forces held on to a first-half goal to beat Mahindra United 1-0 and virtually qualify for the next round in the Asian Football Confederation Cup tournament, in Margao, Goa, on Tuesday.

The all-important goal was scored in the sixth minute by Chaiman Therdsak, off a free-kick.

Mahindra, who dominated the second-half, were frustrated by the rival defence and goalkeeper.

Singapore Armed Forces top Group 'E' with 12 points from five matches and are virtually through to the next round with a match in hand, while Mahindra, who have nine points from five matches, are placed second.

Both teams adopted a cautious approach which did not see much goal-bound thrills in the first-half. The visitors, who had more ball possession initially, took the lead in the sixth minute when Chaiman Therdsak's free-kick beat 'keeper Subhasish Roy Chowdhury to his left.

The kick was awarded by referee Mujghef Salem after Mahindra's Peter Siddiqui brought down Ashrin Shariff on top of the box.

Siddiqui again committed a foul on Duric on top of the box which nearly proved costly. Luckily, Chaiman's shot was well-blocked by Chowdhury, who dived to his right and fisted away the ball. Off the rebound, Manzur Ahmed Khan was unlucky to see his shot hit the post.

Mahindra United, who beat Singapore Armed Forces 2-0 in the 'away' match, slowly found their rhythm. They controlled the latter part of the first-half and made moves mostly from the right, but their strikers were found wanting when opportunities came their way. In fact, the absence of Yusif Yakubu was felt.

Sushant Mathew, who had two scoring chances, stretched 'keeper Abdul Hamid, who leaped high and tipped the ball over following a powerful left-footer in the 20th minute.

Mahindra coach Derrick Pereira introduced a fresh pair of legs in the second-half, bringing in Abhishek Yadav and Venkatesh in place of an off-colour Manjit Singh and Andrews Pomeyie. The move added more thrust upfront as they made a series of moves but the visitor's defence frustrated them. Keeper Abdul Hamid also showed lot of flexibility under the bar as he put out a powerful shot off Sur Kumar from inside the box.

Referee Mujghef Salem showed the yellow card to Singapore Armed Forces captain Mohammed Ali for a rough tackle.

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