Derby ends in a dour draw

CALCUTTA, March 4: East Bengal and Mohun Bagan shared points in their derby clash of the Philips National Football League at the Salt Lake S...

CALCUTTA, March 4: East Bengal and Mohun Bagan shared points in their derby clash of the Philips National Football League at the Salt Lake Stadium here today. The match, played under floodlights, ended in a goalless draw sans thrills except the odd chance that could have gone either way. Both the goalkeepers, East Bengal’s Kalyan Chaubey and Mohun Bagan’s Hemant Dora were rarely tested and on the few occasions in which their services were required, they might feel quite satisfied with their performance.

Dora in particular will remember the save he effected early in the first half. Just 15 minutes had gone by when Bhaichung Bhutia almost converted a half chance into a goal. Receiving a pass from Felix Ijabadeniya, the indomitable East Bengal forward sent a cracking shot at the Bagan goal from inches inside the box. Dora jumped up arcing back to tip the ball over the post.

Instances of frayed tempers in the first half was quickly brought under control before it could spread to the crowd of 80,000. SamuelOmolo of East Bengal and Ranjan Dey were booked for being a bit too rough. Omolo once again played his role of nullifying Chima Okerie to near perfection, even withstanding the Nigerian’s elbow thrusts. Okerie did little except waste an opportunity with a weak header early in the first half.

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The Nigerian, however, reminded East Bengal of his strong right foot early in the second half with a snap grounder which had Chaubey rushing to save. With the scoreline remaining unchanged even after 55 minutes, both the camps decided to introduce fresh legs into the game. Somatai Saiza replaced the off-colour Hummphry Zebba for East Bengal and Bagan brought in Abdul Khaleque and Dipendu Biswas.

East Bengal back-line started paying more attention towards the right wing, while Biswas used his young energy to trouble them further. Biswas got the easiest chance with two minutes remaining when he found the ball placed in his path inside the East Bengal six-yard box. The forward’s wild shot went yards above thecross-piece. East Bengal’s Tushar Rakshit controlled the midfield well today with his skillful intelligent dribbling and deservedly won the man-of-the-match award.