Calcutta: The Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) players must have taken an oath not to be the whipping boys anymore, going into their second-phase CFL Premier Division tie versus Mohun Bagan on Friday.

At a time when CPT were giving an impression that they were out there merely to make up the numbers, following the 0-5 defeat to East Bengal four days ago and 0-7 drubbing against Mohun Bagan in the first phase, Amal Dutta-coached side came up with a valiant show and snatched a crucial point by holding Mohun Bagan 3-3 at the Howrah Stadium.

P.C. Lalawmpuia scored a brace while Jose Barreto converted a penalty for Mohun Bagan. For CPT, Chukwukery Henry matched Lalawmpuia’s efforts with two and Dipak Dolui was the other scorer.

The green-and-maroons actually came from behind to take a 3-1 lead but failed to latch on to the advantage . Their backline was clearly to be blamed for conceding goals towards the end.

The central defence comprising Peter Siddiqui and Peter Odafe flopped to do justice to the display from their strikers, thereby handing arch-rivals East Bengal a chance to take the provisional lead on Saturday.

Mohun Bagan moved to 24 points from 10 matches. East Bengal — with 22 from nine — may surpass the defending champions with a win against Mohammedan Sporting on Saturday.

Mohun Bagan started on a pacy note but they were evenly matched by the relegation-strugglers. Two foreigners — Chukwukery Henry and Najiuba Collins Eje — tested the Mohun Bagan defence on several occasions.

CPT drew the first blood in the 11th minute when Koushik Prasad’s centre was thudded in by Henry. Mohun Bagan’s equaliser came 26 minutes later through Lalawmpuia. The agile striker headed home after a James Singh free-kick ricocheted off the post.

In the very next minute, they were 2-1 up. Lalawmpuia was at it again, slotting home after being fed nicely by Sewram Gobin.

Mohun Bagan got their third goal in the 66th minute, when Barreto converted the spot-kick that CPT conceded when Biswajit Kumar touched the ball inside their box.

When everybody thought that the match was as good as over for Dutta’s side, the two foreigners turned it on its head, starting a recovery process in stunning fashion.

Dolui reduced the margin in the 78th minute. Then Henry’s activity and perseverance in and around the rival area yielded result, finding the equaliser at the stroke of the 90th minute. He nodded home a perfectly-weighted cross from Eje, which beat Siddiqui in the air.

Earlier, there was more bad news for Mohun Bagan when Barreto picked up a yellow card, rendering himself unavailable for the next tie against Eastern Railway on October 28.

TEAMS

Mohun Bagan: Shilton Paul; L. James Singh, Peter Odafe, Peter Siddiqui, Habibur Rehman Mondal, Anit Ghosh (Sewram Gobin 30), Lalkamal Bhowmick, Dharamjit Singh, S. Venkatesh, Jose Ramirez Barreto, P.C. Lalawmpuia (Ishfaq Ahmed 72).

Calcutta Port Trust: Amar Deb; Anusree Borah, Biswajit Kumar, Pradip Tewary, Prasanta Sarkar (Ranjit Chatterjee 67), Koushik Prasad (Sukanta Banerjee 89), Sayantan Das Roy, Souvik Biswas (Swarup Dey 46), Dipak Dolui, Chukwukery Henry, Najiuba Collins Eje.

Referee: Barun Saha.