It was not the result that irritated the paying football fan, but the manner in which the giants played out a goalless draw in the last robin league match of the Nitol-Tata National Football League.

A Mohammedan-Muktijoddha encounter is always guaranteed plenty of excitement and drama, but Sunday's game had neither. It was evident that both teams wanting to avoid a premature clash with Abahani Krira Chakra, adopted a safety-first policy.

And after a 90-minutes of dreary football the onus will be on Mohammedan to face their bitter rivals Abahani in the second semifinal.

Muktijoddha, on the other hand, will have be on their guard while playing dark horse Moulvibazar Wanderers in the first semifinal.

Both semifinals will take place tomorrow at the same venue. Group A champion Wanderers meet Muktijoddha at 3.30pm while the Dhaka derby will kick off at 5.30pm.

Although the second semifinal was scheduled for Wednesday, the tournament committee changed the fixture to ensure live coverage after Bangladesh Television expressed its inability due to a prior national engagement.

With both teams assured of a place in the last four the equation going into the last match was for Mohammedan to lose and Muktijoddha needing a draw to avoid a semifinal battle against Abahani.

The first half promised plenty of end-to-end action. Striker Saiful Islam Moni, the leading scorer in the competition, got two chances to end the deadlock for Muktijoddha. But his first effort a header from an Alfaz cross went wide and the other a curling free kick from the top of the box was fisted away by Mohammedan custodian Nizam.

Mohammedan also could have taken the lead at the stroke of the break when Pappu set Farhad up with a defence-splitting pass but the shaven-headed striker could only manage a feeble shot straight at Aminul.

If that was the first sign of a striker unwilling to score from a vantage position then Alfaz's funny shot with Nizam at his mercy could be best described as a back pass.

And when the final whistle went, there were no cheers but only jeers from the stands.

Yellow cards: Ghansa (Muktijo-ddha) and Salisu (Mohammedan).

TEAMSMohammedan SC: Nizam, Jewel Rana, Masud Rana, Hassan, Titoo, Joy, Faisal (Salisu), Pappu (Tushar), Kanchan, Nakib (Dabran) and Farhad.

Muktijoddha Sangsad KC: Aminul, Hasan Al Mamun, Rajani, Sujon, Papel, Prodip, Ghansa, Nono (Lajuk), Matiur Munna, Alfaz and Moni.

Referee: Mansoor Azad