Mike Okoro of Mohammedan Sporting (left) tries to get past East Bengal’s Nirmal Chhetri during their I-League match at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: An insipid East Bengal split points with Mohammedan Sporting in their ONGC I-League encounter at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday. The goalless tie left the former champions on eight points from six matches while the black-and-white brigade has six from as many games.

Thanks to their goalkeeper Tharangachan Tungshan, Mohammedan Sporting returned unscathed.

The Manipur youngster rose to the occasion thrice to deny East Bengal a goal on either side of half-time. There wasn’t to be any other contender for the Man of the Match award.

East Bengal, missing at least four of their frontline players because of injuries, were further handicapped when Yusif Yakubu was forced to retire inside the first 20 minutes because of high temperature.

With Syed Rahim Nabi starting in the defence, East Bengal’s attack lacked sting. It was left to Sunil Chhetri to shoulder much of the responsibility but his wayward shooting put paid to high hopes.

That East Bengal managed to open the rival goalmouth, despite the setbacks, was largely due to the porous Mohammedan Sporting half-line and deep defence.

Once Yakubu moved out, East Bengal hardly looked a potent force upfront.

His replacement Praveen Kumar seemed out of place. Sanju Pradhan and Rennedy Singh — except for a free kick — were listless too, often leaving East Bengal forwards outnumbered inside the Mohammedan Sporting penalty area.

The East Bengal left flank was almost non-functional with Saumik Dey not risking too many overlaps. Sunil Chhetri did try a couple of forays down the right but was quickly dispossessed for lack of support.

Mohammedan Sporting, with three foreigners in their ranks, looked threatening only in patches. But the double covering employed by the East Bengal defenders kept Mike Okoro and Theodore Sunday under check.

Mohammedan Sporting’s only chance in the first session came when Sunday broke free but shot wide from close. Sunday was later involved in an one-on-one with Abhra Mondal, but the forward failed to keep a cool head.

East Bengal should have taken the lead in the 38th minute when Rennedy’s dipping free kick was saved in the nick of time by Tungshan.

Referee P.K. Bose ignored East Bengal’s appeal for a penalty when Anit Ghosh handled the ball inside the penalty area at the start of the second half.

Chhetri’s saga of misses continued in the second session as well. His header following a Syed Rahim Nabi cross was on target but Tungshan flung to his right to put it away.

Towards the closing stages, Chhetri placed the ball on a platter to substitute Dipankar Roy but he was off target too.

TEAMS

East Bengal: Abhra Mondal, Saumik Dey, Suley Musah, Syed Rahim Nabi, Jayanta Sen, Nirmal Chhetri, Rennedy Singh, Sanju Pradhan (Dipankar Roy, 74), Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Sunil Chhetri, Yusif Yakubu (Praveen Kumar, 20).

Mohammedan Sporting: Tharangachan Tungshan, Madhab Das, Mir Farooq Hyder, Adewusi Adebao Tokunbo, Bijoy Das, Gurpreet Singh, Sovan Chakraborty, Goutam Thakur (A. Jyothi Kumar, 85), Anit Ghosh, Mike Okoro, Theodore Sunday.

Referee: P.K. Bose.

MoM: Tungshan.