I-League: Dempo rally to hold 10-man Mohun Bagan to 1-1 draw

Margao: Dempo came back from behind to hold 10-man Mohun Bagan to a 1-1 draw in the Hero I-League football tournament at the Nehru Stadium in Fatorda here on Wednesday.

Mohun Bagan, who enjoyed better share of exchanges in the first half, took the lead in the 31st minute through Balwant Singh.

But the home team, who enjoyed the numerical figure in the entire second half after the visitors were down to 10 man three minutes before the interval after Sony Norde was shown the red card for elbowing Nirmal Chettri, found the equaliser through man-of-the-match and captain Calum Angus in the 88th minute.

With the league taking a two weeks break, the draw take Mohun Bagan to the top of the table with 15 points from seven matches, the same as Pune FC, but on account of better goal difference the Kolkata outfit enjoy the upperhand.

While Dempo remained on the eighth spot with eight points from as many matches.

Both the teams played attacking game in the first half. Dempo, who made of couple of changes in the starting lineup today, looked more positive and played with purpose than they last played in the 1-5 loss against East Bengal.

Dempo started well and had an edge in the early part of the match. The defense which looked vulnerable against East Bengal got a boost by the return of Calum Agnus.

Alwyn George, who played in the upfront, had the first chance to put his team ahead but he lacked direction in finding the target.

Sony, who looked dangerous on the left, finally got the better of defender Nirmal Chettri inside the box on the left and send a low square pass for onrushing Balwant Singh, who tapped the ball into the net in the 31st minute.

Bagan, who kept on the pressure, received a set back three minutes before the break when Sony needlessly elbowed Dempo's defender Nirmal while going for a tackle and referee A P Thakur had no hesitation in giving him the marching orders.

Dempo made the first change after the interval, bringing in Rowilson Rodrigues in place of Mandar Rao. They kept on attacking in search of the equaliser but the rival defense stood tall.

Dempo coach Maurico Afonso then made two quick changes by bringing in Joy Ferrao and Jewel Raja and after repeated forays managed to find the equaliser two minutes from full time when defender Angus, who got the ball on top of the box, chipped it over rival defender into the far corner of the net.