Ninety minutes into the ISL-X game, East Bengal’s Javier Siverio took a shot at the Odisha FC goal from the edge of the penalty box. The attempt ricocheted off Odisha defender Amey Ranawade and hit Mourtada Fall’s right hand.

As East Bengal players animatedly appealed for a penalty, referee Senthil Nathan stood firm. He did not award the penalty to the hosts and showed the yellow card to Siverio. Minutes later, Odisha’s Jerry Lalrinzuala brought down PV Vishnu inside the box.

Nathan once again refused to point to the spot and blew the final whistle.

“We deserve respect from the referee. Maybe because we did not fare well in the past seasons, referees do not give us respect. But a club like East Bengal deserve more,” coach Carles Cuadrat said at the post-match news conference.

The goalless draw at the Salt Lake Stadium on Friday kept East Bengal in seventh place on the ISL points table with 11 points from 10 matches.

This was also East Bengal’s third consecutive goalless draw and they are unbeaten in five matches on the trot.

East Bengal could have logged full points on Friday as Cuadrat’s men created quite a few chances. Cleiton Silva and Nandhakumar Sekar could have done better in front of the goal.

While Cuadrat has managed to plug the holes in defence — his boys have not conceded a goal in the last four matches — the Spaniard will want his attackers to raise their game when the Kalinga Super Cup begins next month.

However, defender Hijazi Maher and midfielder Souvik Chakrabarti were outstanding for the hosts.