SC East Bengal held Bengaluru FC to a 1-1 draw at the Athletic Stadium in Bambolim. The result extended SCEB's winless run to nine matches while BFC's hopes of entering the top four suffered another blow.
Semboi Haokip (28') opened the scoring for SCEB with a diving header until Saurav Das (OG 55') equalized the opposition with his own goal.
In a nervous start, SC East Bengal goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharja was shown the opening yellow card for fouling Prince Ibarra. At the other end, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu also got off to a poor start as he misjudged the free-kick from deep which went without punishment. It took the 18th minute to create a worthwhile scoring opportunity for both sides when Lalrinliana Hanamate's shot from the edge of the box was blocked by the BFC defence.
BFC's Roshan Norem was shown a yellow card for pulling a shirt and a subsequent free-kick caused Semboi Haokip to break the deadlock just before the half-hour mark. He scored with a diving header that left the keeper no chance.
Alan Costa nearly equalized Clayton Silva's free-kick a few moments later, but his header went slightly over the bar. Marco Pezauoli's men continued to press for a draw but fell behind at the halftime break. Restart looked to send Sunil Chhetri to coaching in an attempt to change the color of the match.
The equalizer came at the end after a period of sustained pressure by BFC in the second half. A cross from Roshan's right edge came from Sourav, whose wrong header overtook his own goalkeeper at the near post.
Ebara was a constant threat and after the hour mark BFC had a chance to give the advantage but his header went over the crossbar. BFC were again denied the lead in the 71st minute after Hira Mandal cleared Chhetri's strike from 10 yards.
BFC came under further pressure as substitute Ankit Mukherjee picked up a yellow card for a foul on Ashiq Kuruniyan in the final leg of the match. Udanta Singh also tried to score but he cut the ball which went off target. Five minutes were added for stoppage but neither side could find the winning goal as both set up a point each.
SC East Bengal will take action against the leaders of Mumbai City FC at the Tilak ground on Friday, while Bengaluru FC will play the same team in their next assignment at Fatorda on Monday.