SC East Bengal held reigning champions Mumbai City FC to a 0-0 draw in a ISL VIII match at the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Vasco on Friday. Mumbai City, leading the table, have been winless in four consecutive matches. And SCEB, still winless after 10 matches in the league, remain at the bottom.

Mumbai City’s Igor Angulo was the first to find an opportunity but his header was comfortably saved by SCEB custodian Arindam Bhattacharya.

For East Bengal, Daniel Chima Chukwu looked dangerous but his attempt from close-range went narrowly past the right side of the goal. The Calcutta team were dealt a blow when defender Joyner Lourenco got injured and had to be replaced by Ankit Mukherjee.

Both teams struggled to create chances in the first half. While Mumbai had more ball possession, they, however, could not really breach the SCEB backline.

Resilient defending from the red-and-gold brigade ensured that honours were level at half time. Mohammad Rafique was sent in the second half as a replacement to Bikash Jairu to prop up the SCEB midfield, but that didn’t make a difference to the scoreline.

A few minutes post the restart, Mumbai City players demanded a penalty as Adil Khan allegedly fouled Cassio Gabriel inside the box. But the referee remained unmoved.

Brazilian Gabriel then blasted a long-range drive which was expertly parried away by Bhattacharya.

Vinit Rai made his debut for Mumbai City on Friday, as coach Desmond Buckingham sent him alongside Ygor Catatau to inject more energy on the pitch.

Amarjit Singh Kiyam picked up an injury and was replaced by Darren Sidoel with 15 minutes left to play. Jahouh was the first player to get booked and picked up a fourth yellow card of the season and will be suspended for the next game.

The final stages of the match saw more determined defending from SCEB as they frustrated the Islanders who could not create meaningful scoring chances.