Calcutta: Mohammedan Sporting made a sluggish start to the second leg of the Sahara CFL Premier Division by playing out a goalless draw against Railway FC at the Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday.

The black and whites’ season so far has been dogged by inconsistent performances, leading to dropped points after some bright performances. The story on Saturday was no different as Shabbir Ali’s boys, who dazzled on Wednesday evening against United SC, looked frightfully off colour.

The Railway FC boys disappointed no one, as they put in a determined performance against their much fancied opponents. Lads like Kaltu Hembram, Munna Mallick and Suraj Mondal — none of whom are household names — impressed with their intelligent running and work ethic.

Chances were far and few in the lack lustre match, with the best opportunity falling to Mohammedan Sporting in the 85th minute. Railway FC custodian Rakesh Prasad picked up the Man of the Match award for an acrobatic save, diving to his right to keep out substitute Vimal Pariyar’s header.

A cushioned header from Theodore Sunday who rose to meet Jyothi Kumar’s cross from the right, set up Pariyar who must have thought he had scored the winner. Apart from this one attempt on target, both sides were wasteful in front of the goal.

The dangerous duo of Mike Okoro and Theodore Sunday were reigned in smartly by the Railway FC defence. Okoro, who went into the game carrying a thigh strain, played on till the 61st minute, before being replaced by Vimal Pariyar.

For Mohammedan Sporting, nothing seemed to be clicking up front, while Sourin Datta’s Railway FC side were happy to settle for the draw.

Shabbir Ali, speaking after the match admitted that it was a poor display from his boys. He said, “Perhaps you can attribute it to overconfidence or maybe we simply had an off day.” He also added that the lack of depth in his squad might be a cause of worry.

“You can see, that I don’t have too many midfield players, so I have no option but to play the same players in most matches…the players too are getting tired playing so many matches in quick succession.”

But temporarily at least Mohammedan Sporting are sitting pretty at the top of the table with 17 points from eight matches. Railway FC are on eight points from an equal number of games.

TEAMS

Mohammedan Sporting: Naseem Akhtar, Francis Nova, Sheikh Azim, Vinu Jose, Bijoy Das, Satyajit Bose(Jyothi Kumar, 46), Prasanta Chakraborty(Roque Barreto, 86), Lalchhuan Awma, Rajib Ghosh, Mike Okoro(Vimal Pariyar, 61), Theodore Sunday

Railway FC: Rakesh Prasad, Mujaffar Rahaman, Sangram Mandi, Sundar Mandi, Biplab Naskar(Gourab Datta, 45), Santosh Oran, Tarak Nath, Suraj Mondal(Sanjib Mishra, 73), Kaltu Hembram(Sankho Roy Choudhury, 80), Munna Mallick, Hira Roy

Referee: Dhanapati Roy

Man of the Match: Rakesh Prasad