Mahendra Police Club and Tatung in goalless draw 22 September 2007 Action from the Mahendra Police Club-Tatung match. Photo by: AFC/Stanley Chou LAHORE: Nepal’s Mahendra Police Club and Chinese Taipei’s Tatung shared a point apiece from a goalless Group A encounter in the AFC President’s Cup here on Friday night. Both sides tried to break the stalemate with gusto in the dying moments of the match and both had their fair share of opportunities but the goal that would have separated the two sides remained elusive. The best of those chances went abegging almost at the final whistle, when Chung-Tzu Chen shot the ball past the rushing Mahendra Police goalkeeper Ritesh Thapa only to be spectacularly kicked back from the goal-line by Rakesh Shrestha. Compared to the goal-fest that this edition of the AFC President’s Cup has so far seen –with as many as 23 goals scored by four sides in the first three matches – this was rather bland stuff. Both Mahendra Police and Tatung were cautious, the latter infinitely more so. Mahendra tried to break the shackles with some enterprising forays but none produced a result as Tatung guarded the danger zone with aplomb. In its own half, Mahendra too gave nothing away. This produced a lacklustre first half. The second part of the game though saw creation of some serious moves, especially from Mahendra through a combination of Bhola Nath Silwal and Ju Manu Rai, both missing the target by the proverbial cat’s whisker. It was Ju Manu who fed a pass from the middle to his right winger Silwal, whose shot was tipped over the bar by the Tatung ‘keeper, Jen Feng in the 56th minute. In an almost similar move, Rai’s kick sailed over the head of the keeper. Before this, in the first real attacking move by a Tatung striker, captain Hui-Kai Tsai’s straight 35 meter drive was palmed over the top by Thapa. Tatung wasted the most gilt-edged of chances in the 81st minute when midfielder Tai-Lin Teng shot wide. Mahendra Police Club coach Birat Krishna Shrestha said after the match: “We could not prepare properly for this tournament due to bad weather in our country and two of our key players could not travel due to injuries.” Regarding today’s game he said: “We did get a few chances in the match but the players mistimed their shots in a hurry. I hope the players will do better in the next game.” Tatung coach Chiang Mu-Tsai said his team lacked in many areas. “The players did not get their rhythm in the first half. They did play well and were speedy after the restart but still they need to improve in many areas,” he said.