Chima Okerie with Man-of-the-Match Habibur Rahman Mondal at Barasat on Monday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: A goalless draw was the last thing a sizeable congregation of home supporters wanted after having taken the pain of travelling 30 kms to Barasat Stadium to cheer Mohammedan Sporting. In return, what the 3,000-odd boisterous crowd got was to witness few missed chances and — of course — agony and frustration after their team failed to breach the territory of the lowly HASC from Bangalore.

However there was a silver lining: A sparkling display from former Mohun Bagan medio Basudeb Mondal, who began a new chapter with Mohammedan Sporting after having faced a horrid time over his transfer, did cheer up the players, coach and the supporters.

Having taken one point from their fourth round match against Mohammedan Sporting in the 11th ONGC National Football League on Monday, it was certainly a morale victory for the outsiders. With this, Mohammedan Sporting have four points from as many matches, while HASC lay low at the bottom half of the points tally with two.

Absence of a proper striker again became the Achilles Heel for the home team as it was evident from their chances going a-beginning on several occasions. HASC, on the other hand, put up a decent show, giving the rivals a few anxious moments, courtesy the mercurial captain Xavier Vijay Kumar.

Basudeb took Mohammedan Sporting very close to one-up in the first-half but his shot was off-target and hit the goal post.

“I feel bad to miss out on a sitter,” said Basudeb, after the match.

The Bangalore-based promoted team too had their share of chances. In the 40th minute, Xavier from left struck a clinical shot, which was well-saved by the custodian Gopal Das.

Having played a goalless first-half, Mohammedan Sporting made their intention clear in the second-half, bringing on Jatin Singh Bisht right after the changeover. The substitute did get a chance immediately, however he floundered in a goalpost melee.

In fact, Mohammed Sporting should thank their goalkeeper Gopal who made another good save from none other than Xavier. It was in the 53rd minute, Xavier was looking threatening when he surged on a solitary effort. But Gopal prevailed in the tackle after the custodian went ahead to grab the ball, nullifying Xavier’s effort.

But what transpired nine minutes before the final whistle will surely be rued by the city club. Habibur Rahman Mondal came very close to give their team the last laugh but he failed to connect the ball from close. Habibur, incidentally, was awarded the Man-of-the-Match.

In the end, it seemed both the teams missed a “foreign” hand in their endeavour to move the scoreline.

TEAMS

Mohammedan Sporting: Gopal Das, Habibur Rahman Mondal, Shyam Mondal, Debjit Ghosh, Mir Farooq Hyder, Surojit Roy (Raman Vijayan, 68), Subrata Guha (Subhasish Roy Chowdhury, 35), Noel Wilson, Asim Das (Jatin Singh Bisht, 46), Basudeb Mondal, Bijen Singh.

HASC: Balaji, Ragui Singh, Pawan Kumar, Prasanth Jaggi, Mohan Raj, Rajendra Prasad, (N. Govin Singh, 84), Murali (C. Prakash, 61), R. Srikanth, Bhuvan Joshi, Kuttimani, Xavier Vijay Kumar.

Referee: A. Arjunan (Services).