McDowell Mohun Bagan’s Syed Rahim Nabi in action during the match against Sporting Clube de Goa, at the Salt Lake Stadium, on Saturday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: McDowell Mohun Bagan eked out a 1-1 draw with Sporting Clube de Goa, after squandering numerous chances in a tenth round I-league match at the Salt Lake Stadium, on Saturday.

Syed Rahim Nabi opened the scoring for Bagan in the 72nd minute while Kalu Ogba equalised through a penalty six minutes later.

Bagan played with only one striker, Okolie Odafe, in the first half. So they had to rely on the Nigerian to get them a goal. But Sporting had a ploy to stop him. They completely blocked Odafe’s movements by strong marking and laying the offside trap. However hard the Nigerian tried, he could not break the shackles.

So, it took a combined effort from all the players in the home team to create an impact in the match.

The Bagan players built up their attack by playing a lot of passes in the middle. Syed Rahim Nabi and Jewel Raja also operated brilliantly on both flanks. They also stretched the opponent defence with a lot of long balls from the deep. But they could not find the goal in the first half.

After the changeover, Bagan technical director Subrata Bhattacharya brought Syed Rahim Nabi to partner Odafe. But the move did not augur well for Bagan as it opened up gaps in the midfield. Luck also did not favour Bagan at times. The green and maroon brigade were denied a clear penalty when Adil Khan pushed Nabi from the back, in the box.

Finally, Bagan broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute. Nabi neatly placed a long ball past an advancing Sporting goalkeeper Milagrio Medeira to score a beautiful goal.

Two minutes later, Bagan could have enhanced the lead but Jewel Raja’s header hit the post.

Sporting equalised when Bagan defender Kingshuk Debnath handled a Victorino Fernandes cross into the box. Referee B. Balasubramaniam, who was nearby, pointed to the dreaded spot. Kalu stepped up to take the penalty and placed the ball calmly to his right, sending Bagan custodian Sangram Mukherjee the wrong way.

Bagan also got few more chances towards the waning moments of the match.

In a bid to keep the ball in their own half, Adil backheaded a ball to Milagrio without realising Nabi was behind him. Nabi ran hard and tried to guide the ball to the far post but the Sporting goalkeeper was alert and made a good save.

In the last minute of added time, Odafe was left to run free but he failed to put the ball on target. Bagan are now placed third in the points table with 20 points while Sporting are seventh with 13 points.

TEAMS

McDowell Mohun Bagan: Sangram Mukherjee, Surkumar Singh, Anwar, Kingshuk Debnath, Syed Rahim Nabi, NP Pradeep (Souvik Chakraborty 82’), Rakesh Masih, Jewel Raja, Manish Maithani (R. Dhanarajan 57’), Snehasish Chakraborty, Okolie Odafe.

Sporting Clube de Goa: Milagrio Medeira, Adil Khan, Martins Jovel, Nirosan Mani (Rowlin Borges 65’), Mackroy Peixoto, Ogba Kalu, Rovan Pereira, Victorino Fernandes, Rojen Singh, Stephen Barreto (James Moga 53’), Warun Deep.

Referee: B. Balasubramaniam

Man of the match: Syed Rahim Nabi