East Bengal and Mohun Bagan played out a safe goalless draw in a ninth round match of the I-League at the Kanchenjungha Stadium here on Sunday.
The traditional rivals, meeting for the 352nd time in a history spanning 96 years, could not live upto the intensity associated with their derby clash and put caution over aggression.
In the first half the teams focused more on limiting the number of penetrative moves on either ends.
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Bagan earned four corners of which two bothered the East Bengal custodian T.P. Rehenesh. The first one happened in the 14th minute when Rehenesh had to stretch himself full length to palm out a swerving shot from Sony Nordy, who saw his second effort in the 33rd minute meeting the same fate.
Ineffective
The combination of Scotsman Darryl Duffy and Haitian Sony Nordy in the Bagan attack was ineffective as did the coordination between East Bengal’s Haitian midfielder Wedson Enselme and Trinidad and Tobago striker Willis Plaza.
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Compared to the team’s last outing in the AFC Cup against Colombo FC, Bagan coach Sanjoy Sen made a few changes bringing in goalkeeper Debjit Majumder and defenders Pritam Kotal, Eduardo Ferreira (Brazil) and Subhasish Bose.
For East Bengal seasoned Mehtab Hossain returned to Trevor Morgan’s side after serving a one-game suspension.
Bagan earned the first chance in the 15th minute when Norde set up a back centre which was met by Kotal with a nice first-timer. But Rehenesh came up with a superb block to keep East Bengal out of danger. Next it was the turn of Majumdar in Bagan goal to come up with a beautiful save when Plaza came close to scoring on an assist from Wedson.
After the draw, East Bengal remained on top with 20 points off eight matches and Bagan behind with 17 from seven.
After the match coach Morgan said, “At a certain point of the match, subconsciously no team wanted to lose.”
The result: East Bengal 0 drew with Mohun Bagan 0. Man-of-the-Match: T.P. Rehenesh.