Players of leading football outfit Mohammedan Sporting went on strike at a practice session on Monday to protest against non-payment of their dues by the club.

Alleging that the club authorities failed to keep their promise of clearing their dues by the first week of March, 19 players refused to participate in the morning practice session, paying scant regard to repeated pleas from coach Jamshed Nassiri.

This is the second such incident involving the club's players, who had resorted to a similar form of agitation a few weeks back while pressing for the same demand.

Expressing dismay over the players' mode of protest, football secretary Ishtiaq Ahmed said they could not expect the club to clear all their dues "in advance".

 "The club still has to play seven matches in the National Football League. How can they expect to get all their dues beforehand? And, moreover, before making such demands, they should also consider their performance this season," Ahmed said.

Mohammedan Sporting, with 15 points from the same number of matches, are now languishing in the 10th spot in the ongoing NFL. The sword of relegation hangs over them with only two sides, Tollygunge Agragami and Indian Bank, below them.

Ahmed also claimed that the club had already paid a major share of the dues of most of the players and the remaining amount would be disbursed soon.

"The players should understand that we are running the club without sponsors," he said, and ruled out taking any disciplinary action against the footballers.