United SC custodian Robikanta Singh gathers the ball as teammate Louis Ebami shields Churchill's Odafa Okolie at the Barasat stadium on Sunday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: While the ‘big boys’ of Bengal are firing blanks away from home, upstarts United SC managed a creditable goalless draw against formidable Churchill Brothers in their I-League match at Barasat on Sunday.

Subrata Bhattacharjee on the eve of the tie had identified Churchill as the strongest team in the competition, and on matchday his primary aim surely would have been not to concede early goals.

The respect and fear that Odafa Okolie commands among opposition was evident in United SC’s line-up. The city based outfit fielded a back five, of which Ayeni Bidemi Daniel, the veteran Dulal Biswas and Louis Ebami were solely employed to bottle up Odafa.

Bhattacharjee’s ploy worked as Churchill found the going difficult in the penetrative zones. The men from Goa, playing under the watchful eyes of the brothers Churchill who were present in the stands, used the flanks well. Khanthang Paite and Zenith Genius, delivered measured crosses early on but the Goan outfit’s Nigerian strike force of Odafa and Felix Chimaokwu were denied space and scoring chances by the well organised United SC backline.

In the first period chances were few and far for both sides as Gourmangi and Govin Singh snuffed out any potentially threatning moves with ease. Young Sochungmi Raleng ran his socks off for the home side, but surprisingly the striker was replaced at the stroke of half time. Robikanta Singh and Arindam Bhattacharya, the two men guarding the two goals had little to do going into the lemon break.

One would have thought Zoran Djordjevic would have urged his boys to go on the offensive after the resumption, but it was United SC who pressed harder. Much of the action was unfolding in Churchill’s half, with a single shot on target from Felix being Churchill’s only notable moment. Odafa cut a sorry figure, carrying three defenders with him wherever he went.

Bhattacharjee’s side should have picked up all three points had Gouranga Dutta converted any of the two clear chances that fell to him in the 74th and 80th minute respectively. On the first occasion, Gouranga’s shot from inside the box went inches wide of the far post, while minutes later his header at the back post from Subhashish Roy Chowdhury’s cross went woefully wide.

The vastly experienced Serb, Djordjevic didn’t hide his disappointment after his side’s performance. “I am not happy with my side… I am not happy with their skills, their offensive side today.” Bhattacharjee on the other hand credited his players for executing plans made in practice well.

TEAMS

United SC: Robikanta Singh, Louis Ebami, Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, Hardeep Singh, Subair Murithala Ali, Snehashish Chakraborty(Subhash Singh, 88’), Dulal Biswas, Ayeni Daniel, Sukhen Dey, Gauranga Dutta, Sochungmi Raleng (Sankar Oraon, 45’, Basudeb Mondal, 73’)

Churchill Brothers: Arindam Bhattacharya, Govin Singh, Felix Chimaokwu(Balan Bineesh, 86’), Naoba Singh, Ogba Kalu Nnanna, Odafa Okolie, Khanthang Paite(Rodrigues Nicholas, 78’), Zenith Genius, Chandam Singh, Lalthlamuana Robert, Gourmangi Singh

Referee: Dinesh Nair

MoM: Snehashish Chakraborty