SC East Bengal denied Chennaiyin FC a chance to rise to third spot with a 2-2 draw in the ISL VIII at the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Vasco on Wednesday. The red-and-gold brigade scored in injury time to deny three points to Bozidar Bandovic’s men, who rise to sixth, one point behind the fourth-placed team in the table.

Chennaiyin FC raced to a 2-0 lead, thanks to an own goal by Hira Mondal (second minute) and a 15th minute strike by Ninthoinganba Meetei. Darren Sidoel (61st) pulled one back with a well-taken free-kick and the equaliser finally came from Lalrinliana Hnamte (90+1) which resulted in the match ending in a draw.

Chennaiyin took the lead in the second minute of the match after Suhail Pasha’s header got deflected by Mondal and went in. The left-back’s night became worse at the stroke of the 15 th minute after his individual error led to the second goal.

Ninthoinganba made the interception on the right flank, making room for himself and smashed the ball into the top-left corner to extend the lead to two.

The restart saw SC East Bengal continue to push for a goal with the first shot on target coming through Mahesh Naorem Singh. At the hour mark, the goal finally came through Sidoel who scored from a direct free-kick which was hit with a lot of power.

The relentless pressure from SC East Bengal finally paid dividends with Lalrinliana scoring the equaliser with a header.

The forward was left unmarked inside the box and he punished the defence with a superb header. There wasn’t enough time left then for either team to find the winner, leading to the points being shared between them.

ATK Mohun Bagan aim higher

All eyes will be on young Kiyan Nassiri when ATK Mohun Bagan take on Mumbai City FC, hoping to break into the top-four again in the Indian Super League in Margao on Thursday. Son of East Bengal legend Jamshid Nassiri, the 21-year-old Kiyan became the youngest ever hat-trick scorer in the ISL. His second-half treble against SC East Bengal on Saturday put the spotlight on him.

ATK Bagan are placed fifth in the points table with 19 points from 11 matches and a win against Mumbai City will take them into the top-four.

Revised fixtures

The ISL unveiled the revised fixtures for the rest of the season, beginning on February 9, with the organisers incorporating all the matches that were postponed due to Covid-19 outbreak last.

There will be three additional double-headers (on February 19, 26, and March 5) to accommodate the six games that were suspended.