Kolkata giants East Bengal rallied to hold local outfit Sporting Clube de Goa 1-1 in a 11th ONGC National Football League match, at the Nehru Stadium in Margao, Goa on Wednesday.
Sporting, who dominated the first half, scored through Ernest Jeremaih (6th minute) while East Bengal, who put up a better show in the second half, equalised in the 81st minute through Ashim Biswas.
East Bengal now have 23 points from 16 matches and move to third place, while Sporting remained on seventh place with 19 points. [See League table]
East Bengal's Ashim Biswas was named the man of the match.
Sporting Clube de Goa failed to score of clear chances with Dudu Omagbemi being the main culprit missing a couple of sitters.
The local club dictated terms in the first half with their forwards and midfield playing in unision. Dudu and Jeremiah Ernest combined nicely and with suport from Joseph Pereira and Rajesh Meetei on the flank, were on the prowl.
The team surged ahead in the sixth minute from a combined move by Rajesh Meetei and Dudu, the latter setting up Jeremaih inside the box, who got the better of keeper Rajesh Gosh Dastidar before slotting the ball into the net.
Winger Meetei, who did a lot of running on the flank, tried a long ranger which Dastidar managed to put out by diving to his right.
East Bengal, coming off recent losses to Churchill Brothers, Mohun Bagan and Dempo, lacked sting in their attack in the absence of their striker Edmilson Marques, who was red carded in their last match against Dempo.
With their mid-field non-existent they could not have a clear look at the rival goal in the first half except for Alvito D'Cunha, who tried a long range in each half which keeper Luis Barreto managed to put out of danger.
After the change of ends, East Bengal raised their game by several notches with their strikers showing greater urgency.
The equaliser came in the 81st minute when a flag kick taken by substitute Chandan Das, who floated the ball towards the goal mouth, was tapped in by Biswas.