I-League: Spoils shared between Bagan and Sporting

Kolkata: McDowell Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting played out a goalless draw in their round eleven clash of the Airtel I-League at the Salt Lake Stadium on Wednesday evening.

This derby was witnessed by a crowd of almost 30,000 but neither side did enough to win the match as they were guilty of some wasteful finishing.

The result kept Mohammedan Sporting in seventh spot with 12 points from 10 outings and they also kept their third straight clean sheet while Mohun Bagan have one point less from the same number of matches.

Mohun Bagan were looking to bounce back from their loss to East Bengal and could have had a dream start when skipper Odafa Okolie found Eric Muranda free just outside the box but the Kenyan’s powerful effort narrowly missed the target.

Minutes later, Odafa manufactured a chance for himself as he outmuscled a couple of Mohammedan Sporting defenders but uncharacteristically put his effort wide.

Mohammedan Sporting were struggling to get into the game as they were misplacing a lot passes. It wasn’t until the midway point of the first half that they had their first attempt on goal as Ishfaq Ahmed tested Sandip Nandy with a scorching shot from 35 yards.

That effort brought Mohammedan Sporting to life with Tolgay Ozbey also running at the Mohun Bagan defence but the Australian couldn’t hit the target.

But it was Mohun Bagan who looked more likely to score as Odafa looked dangerous. The Nigerian though was not clinical in front of goal as his efforts were either straight at Mohammedan Sporting custodian Luis Barreto or off target.

Mohammedan Sporting coach Moshood Bola Abulaziz made a change at the interval as Ajay Singh replaced Jerry Zirsanga but it didn’t really make an impact as the black and whites struggled to create chances.

Mohun Bagan were not creating too many openings as Odafa was getting outnumbered in the second half. Japanse Katsumi Yusa did have a half chance after some nice buildup play by Odafa but the former ONGC man’s effort was blocked.

Mohammedan Sporting saw more of the ball in the final half hour but were only limited to shots from distance with only Rakesh Masih going close.

Mohun Bagan coach Karim Bencherifa brought on Ram Malik, CS Sabeeth and Sankar Oraon in search of a late winner but the green-and-maroon brigade never really threatened to score.

At the other end though Mohammedan Sporting could have won the game in stoppage time. Mohun Bagan needlessly gave the ball away in their own half to Mohammedan substitute Josimar who passed to Ajay Singh but the former JCT striker failed to score despite being in a one-on-one situation with Sandip Nandy.