ISL 2023-24: East Bengal and Odisha FC share a point each in goalless draw

The first half saw a good contest producing plenty of end-to-end action but both the sides drew arrears when it was converting chances in the attacking third.

East Bengal created some late chances but failed on the conversion front before seeing the visitor Odisha holding it to a goalless draw at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Friday.

The first half saw a good contest producing plenty of end-to-end action but both the sides drew arrears when it was converting chances in the attacking third. Odisha found the first opening in the ninth minute when Isak Ralte broke into the East Bengal box making the most of a miscued clearance by the host’s defender Lalchungnunga. The Odisha midfielder failed to make a decent attempt that could challenge the East Bengal goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Singh Gill.

East Bengal worked its way into the match and found a good chance in the 27th minute when Nandhakumar made his way through the right flank beating three Odisha defenders. The East Bengal winger followed up a nice angular attempt from the box but the Odisha goalkeeper Amrinder Singh made a good save to salvage the situation of the visitor.

Odisha’s best chance came in the 61st minute when its Fijian forward Roy Krishna dribbled from the left to fire a low cross that Jerry Mawihmingthanga failed to connect. East Bengal seemed to preserve its best for the end and came up with some good attacks in the last 10 minutes. The host was left complaining of lax supervision by the referee, S. Senthil Nathan, who seemed to clearly overlook two clear infringements by the Odisha defenders – Mourtada Fall and Jerry Lalrinzuala - inside own box.

The first appeal for a penalty came in the 90th minute when Fall seemed to clearly block a shot from the East Bengal substitute Javier Siverio with his hand. The referee chose to look the other way and booked an East Bengal player for protesting. Three minutes later Odisha escaped with another clear infringement when Lalrinzuala brought down East Bengal’s other substitute P.V. Vishnu inside the box by tugging his jersey. The Odisha side-back, who was already on a booking, seemed relieved when he was let off the hook by the match supervisor.

Having denied the claims for two late penalties, East Bengal’s was left fretting over the “inconsistent refereeing”, (clearly spelt out by its coach Carles Cuadrat after the match) that seemingly robbed it of a chance to win.

Odisha created more of the chances in the first half but EBFC too had its moments.