I-League: High tension Kolkata derby ends goalless

The high tension Kolkata derby between Mohun Bagan AC and East Bengal Club ended goalless this afternoon at the Saltlake Stadium. It was peaceful on and off the field, which was the best piece of news of the day.

While East Bengal dropped vital points in the title race as they now have 40 points from 20 matches, Mohun Bagan stay rock bottom with 6 points from 15 matches.

Both teams started off with attacking intend as it became clear that both coaches had told their wards that only a victory counted this afternoon. Though East Bengal had more of the ball, Mohun Bagan had the better chances in the first session, be it Arnab Mondal's clearance off a Tolgay Ozbey flick just about missing the goal and Odafe Onyeka Okolie's free-kick hitting the right post with East Bengal good openings either cleared by the defenders or Shilton Pal with Baljit Singh Sahni heading the ball wide of the best chance.

Things stayed the same in the second session as Tolgay was once denied by an alert Uga Okpara, while at the other end Chidi Edeh or Ishfaq Ahmed could have gotten the winner for the red-and-gold.

It ended goalless, which doesn't really help any of the two teams causes - title race or relegation battle.


MATCH STATS

Mohun Bagan AC 0-0 East Bengal Club - Goals: none

Mohun Bagan AC
Shilton Pal - Nirmal Chetri, Aibor Khongjee, Anyichie Echezona Celestine, Syed Rahim Nabi (Susanth Mathew) - Manish Bhargav, Denson Devadas, Manish Mathani, Sheikh Jewel Raja (Snehashis Chakroborty) - Tolgay Ozbey (Quinton Norman Jacobs), Odafe Onyeka Okolie

East Bengal Club
Abhijit Mondal - Harmanjot Singh Khabra, Arnab Mondal, Uga Okpara, Soumik Dey - Ishfaq Ahmed (Sanju Pradhan), Mehtab Hussain, Penn Ikechukwu Orji, Lalrindika Ralte (Cavin Peter Lobo) - Baljit Singh Sahni, Chidi Edeh

Officials
Referee: M.B. Santosh Trophy (Kerala)