SR, MSU play it safe

CHENNAI: Mid-table occupants Southern Railway and Madras Sporting Union (MSU) played out a goalless draw in the St. Joseph's-Chennai Football Association senior division league here on Friday.

Assured of their safety prior to the kickoff, neither team showed adequate imagination to secure all three points from the game.

With this draw, Southern Railway is on 13 points from its 10 games, while MSU is on 12 points.

Southern Railway enjoyed much of the early possession and had a chance to open the scoring in the 10th minute. But, M. Bharath chose to shoot when a pass to the unmarked P. Riju would have been a better option.

The second half saw Riju's influence growing as he began to enjoy more space down the left wing.

One such instance saw him pick out M. Elamurugan with a fine through-ball, but the striker's effort was easily snuffed out by MSU's onrushing goalkeeper Palmson Muses.

With 10 minutes to go, Riju produced a rasping left footed shot that whizzed inches over the crossbar after collecting Elamurugan's pass.