In what turned out to be an unexpected dramatic fixture, Bengal giants East Bengal settled for a goalless draw to Jamshedpur FC during the 2020-21 Indian Super League (ISL) clash at the Tilak Maidan in Goa on Thursday. The tie witnessed twin red cards to the teams each.
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Following the draw, while Jamshedpur rose to the fifth spot with a point, this was Bengal's first draw of the season. Bengal also bagged their opening points from the opening four games, as they stay winless and continue to hit rock bottom of the table.
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As the opening half got underway, there were initially six attempts made by both, before Bengal's Eugeneson Lyngdoh received twin yellow cards in a matter of five minutes, as he was sent off in the 24th. It was followed by five more attempts, with three coming from Jamshedpur. However, the deadlock did not seem to be breaking anytime soon, as the teams went goalless in the first half.
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The following half surprisingly saw composed gameplay from both the sides, with only three attempts being made, before Jamshedpur's Laldinliana Renthlei received his second yellow during the injury time. While Jamshedpur came up with one last attack following Renthlei's dismissal, the deadlock once again proved too strong to be broken, as both the teams settled for a goalless draw and the honours were shared.
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Following the game, Jamshedpur skipper, Peter Hartley, expressed his frustration, as he said, "Very frustrating to not get a win. Fair play to East Bengal for putting in a wonderful shift with 10 men. But, we had enough chances to seal the win. Maybe, some other day, we could have scored three or four. We take a point today and play Mumbai on Monday, so have to move on. We did the rights things through the middle to tire East Bengal out, but we could have played a higher line, with the full-backs fully up. Unfortunately, we missed out."
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Meanwhile, Bengal head coach Robbie Fowler was partly impressed with his side but was wary of the referring standards. "We finally got a point, so we'll settle for that. We went down to 10 players very early in the game. Whether the decision was right or not, is up for debate. Every game we've played so far, the soft decisions have never gone our way. And, today's referee was no different. We can't even have proper conversations with the fourth official. The standard of refereeing has to improve. We are really giving it our all and were magnificent defensively. I'm proud of the players," he reckoned.
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