A late strike by Manitombi Singh saved the day for Mohun Bagan as the city giants rallied back to finish 1-1 against Mohammedan Sporting in a crucial tie of the eighth National Football League in Kolkata on Sunday.
The dependable rearguard came to the rescue of Bagan in the 83rd minute after Sporting's Nigerian striker Chidi Edeh gave his side a 52nd minute lead in the high pitched battle.
The outcome, however, did not reflect the complexion of the game which was dominated mostly by the green and maroon brigade before a sizeable crowd at the Salt Lake stadium.
Sporting, who remained busy thwarting Bagan attacks for most part, took the lead from an opportunistic strike by Edeh against the run of play.
The Nigerian, the only thorn in the Sporting upfront for an otherwise comfortable rival defence, was lurking outside the box when Bagan defender Palash Karmakar and goalkeeper Prosanto Dora had a slight misunderstanding on clearing a loose ball.
The Nigerian, taking advantage of the confusion, made a sudden burst of pace, grabbed the ball and neatly slotted home on the move past a baffled Dora.
Down by a goal, Bagan upped their ante and carried out waves of attacks before Manitombi found the target in the 83rd minute. The right back, who was overlapping down the wing, made good use of his peripheral vision to see Sporting custodian Gumpe Rime advancing from the goalline and fired a long ranger that sneaked into the net.
With this draw, Sporting improved their tally to 10 points from 12 outings while Bagan were on 15 points.
Earlier, Bagan, who pipped Sporting 2-0 in the first leg, displayed ample determination to repeat their performance.
The Bagan midfield, led by skipper Renedy Singh, brought out fast attacks from the very start and bagged three corners within just five minutes into the game.
The early aggressions were, however, nullified by Rime, who stood firm under the bar and thwarted a number of goal-bound attempts by Renedy and striker Ashim Biswas.
Bagan medio Mehtab Hussain proved distinctly unlucky as his long rangers hit the post on two occasions minutes before the breather.
Bagan's new Zimbabwean recruit Noel Kasake, playing his first match on Indian soil, put up a decent performance but could hardly fill the void created due to the untimely exit of Brazilian Jose Barreto.
Sporting, on their part, relied on counter attacks and created an opportunity in the 18th minute when Edeh's power packed shot narrowly missed the target.
The two teams earlier observed a minute's silence before the start of the match in memory of Nigerian footballer Lawrence Enyilord, who died here on February 8.
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