By I-League Media

MUMBAI: Mumbai FC were held to a goalless draw by current Hero I-League Champions Mohun Bagan in the Hero I-League encounter played at Cooperage stadium tonight. It was a game of two halves, with Mumbai FC bossing the first and Mohun Bagan being the smarter one in the second half. Mohun Bagan would be slightly miffed with the draw after they missed two excellent chances to take all three points from the game.

Mumbai FC were without skipper Taisuke Matsugae who couldn’t recover from the injury sustained against DSK Shivajians. Khalid Jamil made a host of changes to his side to deal with the absence of the Japanese player. Anwar Ali started in central defense as Pratik Chaudhari moved up to play in midfield alongside NP Pradeep who came in for Malem Metei. Allan Dias started in the left back position replacing Ashutosh Mehta.

Mohun Bagan Coach Sanjoy Sen fielded an unchanged eleven from the one that started the last Hero I-League game. The game seemed like a top of the table clash from the outset as Mumbai FC grew into the contest after an opening spell of Mohun Bagan pressure. Both teams were stroking the ball really well, but it wasn’t until the 15th minute when the game saw the first attempt on the goal. From a free kick that was taken short, Eric Brown let a scorching drive fly on the Mohun Bagan goal, Debjit Majumder could thwart the shot wide.

There was no shortage of intensity in the game and a crunching tackle from behind on Cornell Glenn saw Pratik Chaudhari go into the referee’s book in the 22nd minute. Six minutes later, Mumbai FC’s goalkeeper, Pawan Kumar produced an outstanding save from the top drawer when he palmed away a drilled twenty-five yarder from Bikramjeet Singh, who profited on Allan Dias’ loose clearance.

Mohun Bagan finished the half strongly but gave Pawan Kumar very little to worry about as the first half ended goalless.

Mohun Bagan stepped the ante in the second half and put Mumbai FC under a bit of pressure. Mumbai FC’s Pratik Chaudhari was lucky to stay on the pitch after a late challenge of Yusa Katsumi around the hour mark as referee chose not to hand the Mumbai FC player a second yellow card. Khalid Jamil quite smartly replaced him for Asif Kottayil in the 65th minute.

Mohun Bagan missed a glorious chance to take the lead in the 69th minute when Yusa Katsumi beat the offside trap to get the goal-line and set-up Sony Norde for a tap in, but the Haitian somehow managed to strike his effort onto the upright as Mumbai FC were let off the hook.

Another chance went begging for the visitors in the 82nd minute when a sweeping counter-attacking resulted in Sony Norde putting Yusa Katsumi through on goal, but the Japanese midfielder fired his shot straight at Pawan Kumar.

Mumbai FC threatened to steal the game in the dying minutes with a couple of dangerous set-pieces, but Bagan defended well to earn a crucial point away from home.

The draw meant both sides fell further behind the pace as Bengaluru FC registered a 4-1 win over DSK Shivajians to move to the top of the Hero I-League table.