Durand Cup: Punjab FC, Bangladesh Army FT play out a goalless draw

This is BAFT’s second draw in the tournament against an ISL side after it had held against East Bengal in its opener.

Action from the Durand Cup game between Punjab FC and Bangladesh Army FT. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Punjab FC (PFC) and Bangladesh Army Football Team (BAFT) played out a goalless draw in a Group A match at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharathi Krirangan in Kolkata on Thursday.

This is BAFT’s second draw in the tournament against an ISL side after it had held against East Bengal in its opener.

With this draw, BAFT has completed its group engagements with two points from three matches while Punjab FC has one point from two games.

Punjab dominated possession early in the game with Juan Mera controlling the midfield and was ably supported by Amarjit Kiyam and Maheson Singh.

The BAFT defence showed great resilience after it was forced to defend deep. Punjab pushed more men forward with wing backs Nitesh Darjee and Abhishek Singh joining the attack alongside centre forward Daniel Lalhimpuia.

BAFT was content to sit back and depend on counters and used the set pieces well to create chances.

The first real chance came for Punjab through some intricate play which found Daniel Lalhimpuia, whose shot was saved by BAFT keeper Ashraful Islam Rana.

Punjab’s best chance came when Bangladesh captain Mehedi Hasan’s header back to his keeper was intercepted by Daniel. But his shot was saved by the BAFT keeper.

The only real threat from BAFT came when left-back Md Kamrul Islam’s pile driver was saved acrobatically by PFC goalkeeper Ravi Kumar.