Mohun Bagan made a minor recovery after the loss against traditional rival East Bengal by holding another city team Mohammedan Sporting to a goalless draw in an 11th round match of the I-league here at the Salt Lake Stadium on Wednesday.
Looking to get back to winning rhythm following the reversal in the previous round, Mohun Bagan tried the attack route initially but failed to find the net as its attackers — Nigerians Okolie Odafa and Eric Muranda —failed to keep the ball on target. Muranda found his left-footed attempt in the sixth minute sailing over while Odafa’s attempt on a half-turn in the 12th minute also went over.
Having a fair measure of each other as local rivals both sides preferred caution over aggression. Sporting woke up late and tried to wrest the initiative later in the first half. Midfielder Ishfaq Ahmed, coming on loan from IMG-Reliance, and Australian striker Tolgay Ozbey made successive efforts but lacked accuracy to get anything out of it.
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Mohun Bagan saw an opportunity in a fine Odafa-Katsumi Yusa combination in the 69th minute. The Japanese midfielder, unmarked inside the Sporting box got to a a neat pass from Odafa but misdirected messed up the opportunity.
Mohammedan Sporting had two good chances to open up the lead later in the second half. Nigerian midfielder Orji Penn saw his 72nd minute effort from top of Bagan box narrowly miss the mark.
Ajay Singh, who was fed in the Bagan box by Brazilian substitute Joshimar Da Silva, failed to keep his cool and spoilt the best chance of the match.
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Sporting took its tally to 12 points from 10 matches, while Mohun Bagan is just behind with 11 points from 10 outings.
The result:
Mohun Bagan 0 drew with Mohammedan Sporting 0.