Controllerate of Inspection Electronics (CIL) failed to capitalise on an early lead and conceded the equaliser in the second-half to share 1-1 honours with Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) in the Super Division football league at the Bangalore Football Stadium here on Tuesday.

With a creditable fourth-place finish last season, CIL needed an outright win to reverse their sagging fortune this time around and they received a major fillip through a 13th-minute strike by Pradeep.

However, ADE pressed hard for the equaliser and their efforts paid off with a 52nd-minute effort by captain Gnanaprakash. In a meek affair where most of the action was confined to the midfield, CIL took advantage of a costly defence lapse by ADE early on.

Manoj surged ahead with the ball on the right and crossed to Gopi who in turn served an unmarked Pradeep near the far-end post. The lanky striker slotted home comfortably to put CIL ahead.

Poor show

However, they looked complacent thereafter and hardly produced any fruitful movements. ADE, on the other hand, enjoyed most of the possession but their forwards let them down with some lacklustre shooting.

Jairaj was a trifle slow on a couple of occasions when rival goalkeeper Venkatesh was in trouble after mis-timing the charges while fellow-striker Donald couldn’t get the finishing touch right.

In the 40th minute, substitute Joar’s slicing header off a Donald free-kick went straight into Venkatesh’s hands.

Two minutes later, ADE almost restored parity but there were no takers for a beautiful offering by Deepan that went agonisingly close to CIL goal line.

ADE, however, levelled the score seven minutes into the second session. Jairaj took advantage of the confusion among opponent defenders and headed the ball to Gnanaprakash who did the rest with ease near the left-hand post.

CIL have just six points from 10 outings while ADE took their tally to seven from nine matches. Other result: ‘A’ Division: Reserve Bank of India: 2 (Chinnappa 70th, M A Ponnappa 77th) bt Sri Gajanana (Chandrasekhar 83rd).
Wednesday’s matches: ‘A’ Division: AGORC vs HMT, 1.45 pm; Super Div: DYSS vs ASC, 3.45 pm.