Frustrated East Bengal held to a goalless draw at home by Punjab FC | ISL 2023-24
Moments of scare, Hail Mary crosses, and squandered opportunities defined East Bengal FC's night at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan as they settled for a goalless stalemate against a resilient Punjab FC outfit on Saturday.
Spurred on by the emphatic 5-0 victory over East Bengal, the Red and Gold were touted as the clear favorites even before the first whistle.
Eyeing to maintain the momentum, Carles Cuadrat opted out of tweaking heavily with the lineup. Nishu Kumar was brought in for injured Harmanjot Singh Khabra while Nandhakumar Sekar regained the starting spot after his electric performance off the bench against NorthEast United.
The Shers, on the other hand, made three changes to their lineup from the previous game, with Kiran Limbu returning to the starting XI and 18-year-old Abhishek Singh making his ISL debut. The visitors were still eyeing their first victory in the top-tier league.
Expectedly, it was the Torchbearers who had a dominant start to the night but yet again, the lack of composure in the final third had returned. The half-chances and some hopefully passes into the opposition box went begging. A bit of spice was tingled in the match when Cleiton Silva was brought down inside the six-yard area, but the referee decided against rewarding a penalty.
As East Bengal continued to be frustrated by the resilient Punjab FC defensive line, the Mohali-based outfit's attacking intent grew. After the drinks break, the momentum had shifted towards the momentum, and Juan Mera came agonizingly close to scoring against his former club.
In the 36th minute, the Spaniard cut in from the right and whipped in a left-footed curling effort, aiming at the far corner. The ball kissed the woodwork and stayed out as the East Bengal camp let out a huge sigh of relief.
The first half ended goalless, with both teams struggling to create clear-cut chances.
East Bengal's desperate attacking push negated by sturdy Punjab FC defense
With the support of the home fans in their corner, East Bengal set out in the second half to conjure the lead.
Cleiton Silva had an early chance when he got on the end of a cross from a corner situation, but the Brazilian's effort flew over the crossbar. Meanwhile, the visitors surprised their doubters as they maintained their composure under immense pressure.
Juan Mera was yet again in the thick of things for Punjab FC, as his curling cross found Krishananda Singh on the far post. But the Indian winger's thumping header was gathered comfortably by Prabhsukhan Singh Gill.
After the break, both coaches, having eyed the areas to improve after an hour into the outing, brought on a few substitutes to impact the tie. Vishnu PV, who was an absolute livewire in the last game, came on for Nandhakumar.
Meanwhile, Mohamad Rakip and Jose Pardo were also thrown into the mix for East Bengal. The visitors sacrificed their talismanic forward Luka Majcen to bring on Madih Talal and solidify the midfield.
As the game rolled into the final 10 minutes, East Bengal grew desperate and Vishnu almost provided some respite when he danced past the opposition defense and carved out a scoring opportunity.
But rather than wrapping his foot around the ball, the young winger managed to slash the ball and squander the golden opportunity.
After six additional minutes of frantic football from the hosts, Punjab FC walked away with a point as the referee brought the tie to an end.
Cuadrat's dejected look was enough to indicate who would be the happier of the two managers.
Staikos Vergetis' men, meanwhile, have drawn their last three fixtures and shown real against teams who are superior on paper.