Calcutta: Mohun Bagan split points with Peerless SC when they played out a goalless tie in the CFL Premier Division A here on Monday. Bagan now have 13 points from five matches.

Having played the same number of matches, arch-rivals East Bengal have 15 points in their kitty. East Bengal are at the top of the table now.

After a delayed start to the game, Bagan started on a positive note. But Peerless defended well, led by Nigerian Eze Kingsley Obumnems. Peerless were banking on counter attack.

Against the run of the play, Peerless striker Ghrnefo Ansumana Kromah got a chance to score, but his shot went just wide.

After resumption, Bagan tried to break the deadlock bringing in Daniel Bidemi in place of Tapan Maity in the 51st minute. Bidemi, who joined the practice a day before the match, however, looked totally unfit.

Peerless were desperate to get one point. They stationed eight players in their half, giving the Bagan forward line little space to be effective.

In 68th minute, Peerless midfielder Argha Chakraborty's shot hit the bar. Bagan got the best chance of the match in 77th minute, when Prabir Das took an excellent shot, but Peerless custodian Sankar Roy was alert enough to keep the rivals at bay.

The match had started 20 minutes after the schedule time. The delay was due to an anomaly in the team list submitted by Peerless SC, it was learnt.

With the kick-off scheduled at 5.30pm. It was seen that Bagan officials were in an animated discussion with referee Tanmoy Dhar. Sources later said that Peerless SC had made changes to the squad from the one that they had originally submitted to the IFA.

Deepak Kachhap, Sourav Mallick and Mohammed Irfan Khan were in the original squad, but the list that was given to match officials ahead of the match had Kallol Paul, Satter Singh and Pintu Manna's names.

With Bagan officials protesting, the referee instructed Peerless to field players from the original squad.

Asked about the incident, match commissioner Debasish Mishra said: "Peerless changed the squad after submitting it to the IFA... We asked them to field the squad which was given previously. They played accordingly."

Peerless coach Tope Fuja admitted it was a mistake. "I changed the squad around 3.30pm, but it reached late due to some miscommunication," Fuja said.

On the other hand, Bagan finance secretary Debasish Dutta said: "As per rules, no team can change the squad once it has been submitted. We just raised this valid point and the referee accepted it."

Meanwhile, the match between Mohammedan Sporting and Southern Samity, which was scheduled for August 24, has been postponed.

TEAMS

Mohun Bagan: Arnab Das Sharma; Deepak Devrani (Tanmoy Ghosh 62), Sanjay Balmuchu, Raju Gaikwad, Sarthak Golui; Prabir Das, Robinson Singh, Saran Singh, Tapan Maity (Daniel Bidemi, 51); Azharuddin Mallick, Darryl Duffy (Ajay Singh, 86).

Peerless SC: Sankar Roy; Arijit Bagui, Eze Kingsley Obumnems, Akhil Rajbanshi, Zoheb Hassan; Argha Chakraborty, Sukhwinder Singh, Sharukh Rahman (Rahul Jaiswal, 90), Syed Rahim Nabi; Ghrnefo Ansumana Kromah, Laltu Hembram (Laxmi Kanta Mandi, 85).

Referee: Tanmoy Dhar

MoM: Sankar Roy