Play-by-Play: Bengaluru and Bagan hold their nerves through a tense goalless draw at Kanteerava

A NERVY, HEATED encounter unfolded at Kanteerava Stadium tonight as Bengaluru FC and Mohun Bagan played out a goalless draw in tonight's mega evening fixture in the I-League.

In the first half, the visitors were mostly limited to long balls and attacks up the wing. Knowing their limitations in the midfield with Katsumi Yusa playing on the right wing, they started their game using Balwant Singh as the lone target man with Darryl Duffy often tasked with retreating to a more withdrawn position.

The early minutes saw Mohun Bagan try a couple of crosses to reach Balwant But soon the home team started creating a palpable pressure through free kicks. Early on a free kick by Cameron Watson created some tension in the Mohun Bagan box. Then Eugeneson threatened to invade again, forcing Sehnaj to foul him just outside the box. The resulting free kick was shot well over the bar by Sunil Chhetri. Another harsh foul on Udanta got Subhashish booked within the first 10 minutes.

Soon it was the home team who took control of the flow of the game. Mohun Bagan were getting chances of counters, but Sandesh Jhingan was sternly guarding their main attacker, Sony Norde, and he met with fouls whenever he tried to break through. One such foul got Nishu booked and allowed Katsumi Yusa to swing one in for Balwant but the latter's on-target finisher was kept out by a superb dive from Arindam. 

As the first half wore on a few attempts to find Duffy did not bear fruit for Pritam's long balls and Katsumi's crosses. Then Jhingan's cross was fed to Eugeneson by Sunil Chhetri. The resulting shot almost went in but Shilton Paul made a gutsy save badly injuring himself in the process. Thankflly he was able to continue.

Early on the second half Sunil Chhetri went down in the opponent penalty box but the referee waved it off. By now, Bengaluru were definitely the team in charge. Danield made a fast dash through the middle, but his piledriver was blocked by a ferocious dive from Eduardo.

But soon, things went awry for the visitors. 68 minutes in, Subhashish Bose was handed his second yellow in an off-the-ball situation that seemed to be caused by him talking smack to the referee, a charge he vehemently denied when TFG asked him after the match. Either way, for the last 20 minutes, Bagan were down to 10 men. And the title challengers now faced an uphill battle to avoid a defeat.

To make up for Subhashishs's absence, Prabir Das came in replacing Duffy to guard the left back position. Sniffing a win, Albert Roca soon brought in striker Jugovic to replace right back Jhingan. This opened up a path for Sony Norde that the Blues almost came to regret.

Bagan crawled up the left wing, multiple times stopped by fouls. Free kick after free kick saw thm finally stand on a set-piece within scoring distance. The free kick was taken perfectly by Norde and it fell to Katsumi Yusa who knocked it straight into the goal. But as the East Lower B block and the Bagan players exploded in joy, the linesman put his flag up; and the referee disallowed the goal for a foul on Arindam in the lead up.

This was it in terms of proper chances for Mohun Bagan. In the last few minutes Jeje was brought on to replace Balwant Singh but he didn't have enought time to make an impact. Katsumi Yusa made a threatening run up the right flank but Cameron Watson was happy to foul him and take a booking for it. 

In the last few minutes the Bagan defence came under intense pressure as back to back corners were earned by BFC. Jugovic made his presence felt, and the last couple of minutes saw Bagan players throwing themselves all over the place clearing attempts to make sure it stayed 0-0 at the end of the game.

In terms of intensity, this game was right up there with other BFC vs MB matches. But what was missing was the finesse. Multiple times sloppy passes missed their intended recipients. And although there was more coherence in Bengaluru's build-up play, effective finishers did not come frequently enough. And that ensured that despite playing for almost half an hour with a man less, Mohun Bagan managed to get a clean sheet.

The draw doesn't hurt Bengaluru FC match. It was clear that the players had come into the game with the prior knowledge that the league title isn't something that's waiting for them any more. But dropping more points comes as yet another devastating blow to Bagan's title hopes. Just when Aizawl FC dropping points presented them with a chance to catch up, they worked themselves back into the ditch, currently on 23 points from 12 matches. If East Bengal beat Chennai City tomorrow, Bagan will fall into a solid deficit in the title race.

Despite being winless for 3 matches now, Sanjoy Sen's tactics remain similar. This has allowed opponents to figure out Bagan's attack. And chances are not forthcoming the way they were at the start of the season.

But what should worry them more is that this match provided their opponents with a very hands-on lesson on how to contain Mohun Bagan. When these teams meet again for their AFC Cup group stage match on Tuesday, expect a more confident Bengaluru to hit the Mariners with attacks of increased intensity.

Here's how the match unfolded, narrated in detail through our real time updates...