I-League: East Bengal and Mohun Bagan play out a 0-0 draw

The I-League match between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan ended in a 0-0 draw and it was a fair result as both teams had their fair share of chances in front of goal, with neither able to land the decisive blow.

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Mohun Bagan got the Kolkata Derby under way and it was all Bagan in the early part of the match. Their captain Katsumi Yusa had a chance to get an early cross in the 3^rd minute, but his last touch proved to be too hard as the ball rolled out for a goal kick.

Bagan dominated the early part of the game, but East Bengal slowly found their groove and Robin Singh had a chance to catch the Mohun Bagan defence off guard but he was caught offside. The first real threat of the game came in the 15^th minute as Sony Norde collected the ball from a corner kick and crossed it in, but Pritam Kotal's shot was hit straight at Rehenesh TP.

Sony Norde continued to be a big threat for the East Bengal defence throughout the first half and he could have made it 1-0 after he tried his luck from a corner kick, but Rehenesh came to the rescue once again.

As the match progressed, East Bengal slowly came into the game and their first real chance of the match came in the 23^rd minute as Robin found Willis Plaza, only for his shot to be directed straight at Debjit Majumder.

In the 37^th minute, EB created another chance as Plaza and Nikhil Poojari combined well, but Robin failed to connect with the resulting cross. Mohun Bagan could have taken the lead just before halftime as Souvik Chakraborty dribbled past the East Bengal defence only to fire his shot straight at the goalkeeper.

Mohun Bagan could have been up by two goals at halftime, but the heroics of East Bengal keeper Rehenesh kept the score at 0-0 at halftime.

Despite East Bengal starting the second half much better, it failed to live up to the standards of the first half. The pace of the match slowed down and the number of chances created also reduced. East Bengal, though, could have broken the deallock in the 57^th minute as Plaza was once again on target with his shot, but Mohun Bagan keeper Debjit kept the score line at 0-0.

Mohun Bagan found a rare chance at goal in the second half on the counter attack and Norde was at it again, but he failed to test the East Bengal keeper this time as he fired straight at him. In the 71^st minute, Katsumi also had a good opportunity to open the scoring but his shot was blocked by Ivan Bukenya.

Mohun Bagan had another opportunity to find the winning goal through Darryl Duffy, but his shot too was blocked. Mohun Bagan seemed to come to life towards the end of the second half and Balwant Singh had a chance from a free-kick, but he headed wide.

With the match ending 0-0, East Bengal maintained their three point lead at the top of the I-League and the two teams from Kolkata remain the only unbeaten teams this season. With Bagan having played a game less than East Bengal, they could go level on points at the top of the table.