Dipendu Biswas and Okoli Odafa get into a tangle with Indian Bank defenders at Salt Lake Stadium on Thursday. Inset: Fourth referee Saji Kurian, who was hit by a missile from the crowd. Pictures by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: A debatable penalty fetched Mohammedan Sporting three crucial points and pushed Indian Bank further into relegation quagmire of the National Football League (NFL).

Dipendu Biswas accepted referee A.K. Ashokan’s 73rd-minute offering with glee, scoring with a thunderous drive to break the deadlock. It was enough to swell Mohammedan Sporting’s tally to 13 points.

Indian Bank, who suffered their 11th loss in 13 games, stay rooted on two points. They will now need a major miracle to avoid demotion.

V.P. Sathyan’s men will, of course, have every right to feel aggrieved for being denied the luxury of a point on Thursday. They looked the more purposeful side for the better part of the match, created more openings and didn’t deserve to lose.

The penalty broke the bankmen’s resistance. A routine cross from Amandeep Singh was laid on to Chidi Edeh’s path by Sheikh Sanjib. The Nigerian striker chased down the ball only to be denied a look at goal by a diving Sebastian Neto.

The Indian Bank goalkeeper did bring Edeh down, but it wasn’t deliberate as he seemed to have gone for the ball and not the man. The referee thought otherwise, refusing to lend an ear to all the protests.

Ironically, the man with the whistle had turned down two earlier appeals — one from each side — which looked more genuine than the one he ultimately gave.

Veteran Sabir Pasha was pulled from behind by Syed Hussain in the early minutes, while Edeh was brought down by a Bank defender just as he was about to shoot home.

The goal calmed the 10,000-odd black-and-white die-hards who were getting increasingly frustrated and ‘targeting’ the match officials to vent their anger at. One of their missiles did, in fact, strike fourth referee Saji Kurian on the head as he was walking back to the dressing room at half-time.

Fortunately, the Kerala official suffered just a deep cut and was brave enough to resume his duties in the second session with a bandaged head.

Too many fouls threatened to mar the game in the second half as both teams got desperate in their quest for three points. Indian Bank defenders were guilty more often, as Dipendu, Edeh and Sanjib pressed hard. The picture was quite different in the opening half when the bankmen, led by former international Pasha, exposed the brittle Mohammedan Sporting defence time and again.

Sri Lankan striker Kasun Jayasuriya stroked the ball a foot wide of target, while Joseph’s header was well collected by custodian Amar Deb. Then an unmarked Pasha directed a header well past Deb.

Moments from full time, Jayasuriya messed the game’s simplest chance, beating an off-colour Madhab Das before pushing the ball out from ten yards.

Mohammedan Sporting, who came close to scoring just once in the first 45 minutes — Dipendu’s back-volley hitting the crosspiece — were more incisive in the second session. But Edeh went on a goal-missing spree. Not only did he leave his scoring shoes at home, he ran into off-side positions too often and fell down at the slightest hint of a challenge.

The penalty certainly saved him from returning as villain No. 1.

Dope tests

AIFF conducted the dope tests for the first time in the NFL this season. The urine samples of Edeh of Mohammedan Sporting and Anthony Noel of Indian Bank will be sent for testing. The results will be out in ten days.

TEAMS

Mohammedan Sporting: Amar Deb, Syed Hussain, Godwin Abubaker, Madhab Das, Amandeep Singh, Bungo Singh (Sheikh Sanjib, 59), Bhuvan Joshi, Okoli Odafa, Rahim Nabi (Amjad Ali Khan, 67), Dipendu Biswas (Zahir Abbas, 89), Chidi Edeh.

Indian Bank: Sebastian Neto, Kamaldeen Fuard, Anthony Noel, Anandavasan, Roopesh, Amjad Hussain, Ravanan, Mohammed Rawme (Sudheesh, 64; Aseem, 82), Raveendran (Joseph, 15), Kasun Jayasuriya, Sabir Pasha.

Referee: A.K. Ashokan