Mohun Bagan maintained its unbeaten run in the season against traditional rival East Bengal, holding the latter to a 1-1 draw, in a 19th-round encounter of the I-League here on Saturday.
Having won its previous two encounters — once earlier in the I-League (1-0) and in the Calcutta Football League (2-0) — Mohun Bagan recovered from a goal's deficit to force a draw. Robin Singh put East Bengal ahead before Nigerian striker Okolie Odafa restored parity.
East Bengal started more aggressively and converted the advantage into a lead in the first half. With its midfield combination of Mehtab Hossain and Nigerian Orji Penn doing well in the creative zone, East Bengal had a greater share of ball possession. This helped its attacking duo of Australian Tolgay Ozbey and Robin Singh, who made repeated raids into the Bagan box.
Tolgay and midfield colleague R. Vashum came close to the Bagan goal twice in the first 30 minutes, but failed to breach the defence. Robin Singh put an end to East Bengal's wait in the 33rd minute when he beat an intended off-side trap to finish with an angular left-footer.
Bagan came back strongly after the break and found the equaliser before East Bengal could settle into a rhythm. Odafa, who had scored the winner against the same opponent in the first phase, foxed the East Bengal defence with a fine solo effort to bring Bagan back into the game in the 46th minute. East Bengal now has 35 points from 19 matches, while Bagan remains a point behind on 34 from its 19 outings.
