ISL 2019-20: Subrata, Gurpreet star in Jamshedpur-Bengaluru draw

Subrata Paul's staggering nine saves against the defending champion Bengaluru FC helped Jamshedpur FC salvage a point in the Indian Super League (ISL) fixture.

Subrata Paul thwarts Manuel Onwu's attempt at goal.

Subrata Paul put out an untiring vigil at the Jamshedpur FC goal to help the host hold visitor and defending champion Bengaluru FC to a goalless draw, here at the JRD Tata Sports Complex on Sunday.

Paul’s heroics in the Jamshedpur goal became a bane for Bengaluru, which was looking for its first win of the tournament. The former India goalkeeper made a series of spectacular saves to deny the visitor the chance of picking up the full quota of points.

Did you miss the game? Listen to our recap of the Jamshedpur FC vs Bengaluru FC on our ISL Special podcast, The Full Time Show

The exchanges started early as the Bengaluru captain Sunil Chhetri tested Paul with a long-ranger in the sixth minute before Jamshedpur formed a fine counter-attack and almost found the net but for the post which blocked a fine attempt from Sergio Castel.

Paul's best came when Bengaluru launched a barrage of attacks in the first quarter of the action. It appeared as a contest between the two alumnus, the other being Gurpreet Singh Sandhu) from Tata Football Academy manning the posts at either ends. Paul denied Bengaluru defender Juanan in the 13th minute catching his header from a point-blank range. Seven minutes later Paul palmed out Harmanjot Khabra’s goal-mouth attempt before going on to justify the moniker of ‘Spiderman’ once again in injury-time clearing a rasping drive from Bengaluru forward Raphael Augusto.

AS IT HAPPENED

Gurpreet prevents Farukh Choudhary's overhead attempt in the second half. Photo: ISL/SPORTZPICS

By the 55th minute of the match, Bengaluru had made almost a dozen attempts at the Jamshedpur goal only to find Paul blocking all the passages. Just as a harried Bengaluru appeared to relax its attack Jamshedpur found two good opportunities which were saved by Sandhu. The India no. 1 blocked a 54th minute effort from midfielder Mohammad Mobashir before making a great reflex save on an acrobatic attempt from forward Farukh Choudhary.

Then, it was the turn of Paul, who was at it again in the 76th minute when Bengaluru substitute Ashique Kuruniyan had a free run at the Jamshedpur goal. Bengaluru's makeshift leftback was outdone by the former who seemed to have a remedy for every situation.