Kolkata: Ranty Martins missed a penalty and the chance to score his 200th goal in the country's top league as East Bengal were held to a 1-1 draw by Mumbai FC in their I-League football fixture at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan here today.
On a three-match winning run that included one in the AFC Cup, East Bengal rallied from one goal down as Dudu Omagbemi's 56th minute smashing header cancelled out Joshimar d'Silva Martins' 33rd minute penalty kick.
Nigerian import Martins, who was eyeing a record 200th goal in the combined I-League and NFL, struck a poor penalty that stayed low and went straight to the hands of Mumbai goalkeeper Nidhin Lal in the 73rd minute to shatter East Bengal's hopes.
East Bengal would also consider themselves unlucky as a smashing Cavin Lobo shot from a Martins diagonal cross hit the crosspiece. Lobo showed fine skills by chesting the ball down before launching into the attack but the crosspiece came in the way after Mumbai goalkeeper was beaten.
Having dropped points at home, the result meant that East Bengal's title hopes virtually went up in smoke as they failed to move up the ladder and remained on fifth position with 20 points from 13 matches.
Eighth placed Mumbai FC (14 points from 14 matches), on the other hand, continued their winless run.
The match was played in front of a crowd of 150 in the gigantic 120,000 capacity Saltlake Stadium as it was held behind closed doors after police refused to give protection because of the civic polls.
The crowd included a handful of mediapersons and some members who were issued separate cards for the match.
East Bengal coach Eelco Schattorie rued the lack of home crowd in the match.
"There was little pressure on the players because of lack of crowd. Screaming supporters add up to the tension," he said.
East Bengal are slated to play two more matches -- vs Dempo SC on April 25 in I-League and vs Johor Darul Ta'zim in the final AFC Cup group match on April 28 -- behind closed doors owing to lack of police deployment.
Mumbai FC took the lead against the run of play after Joshimar d'Silva Martins converted from the spot in the 33rd minute with a powerful rightfooter that blasted into the top right of the box.
East Bengal midfielder Harmanjyot Singh Khabra could be blamed for letting the visitors take an easy lead. It was Khabra who got his right hand in an aerial challenge with Justin Stephen from a Climax Lawrence freekick at the half-hour mark.
Referee B Balasubramaniam was quick to spot the handball and awarded Mumbai FC the penalty even as East Bengal players protested.
Comments
0 comment