Bengaluru: In a match that sparked many debates, including refereeing errors, flaring tempers and a master class in defence by the away side, it was a pity that a goal proved elusive as Bengaluru Football Club played out a goalless draw against Sporting Clube de Goa at the Bengaluru Football Stadium, on Saturday .
Both teams played tactically astute football, especially the visiting side as they defended admirably to starve the home side of any chances and caught the opposition offside time and time again. For their part, the BFC defence also held fort in impressive fashion.
The Men in Blue honoured the club and country's skipper Sunil Chhetri before the match with the number 43 BFC jersey after the striker became the all-time top scorer for India recently .
Both teams started brightly with Arturo Garcia shooting wide for the visitors and Sean Rooney shooting straight to the goalkeeper at the other end in the first 10 minutes.
The next chance fell for the travelling side as Gonzalo Neila, adjudged man of the match, embarked on a driving run from his own half before laying it off to Jovel Martins whose low shot towards the bottom left corner was turned away smartly by Pawan Kumar.
The referee, Prabir Dhar, fell into hot water during injury time as Martins was pulled over for a kick out but he still ended up flicking his hand at Siam Hangal and though the midfielder fell down in dramatic fashion, the card stayed in the referee's pockets.
The second half began with the 'Men of Steel' showing more resolve and drive though both Osano and Johnson headed wide from corners in the opening minutes.
BFC came within inches of going ahead in the 78th when Thoi Singhs's cross evaded the first defender to ricochet off Mathew Gonsalves and hit the under side off the bar before going out, much to the disappointment of the home crowd.
With the final whistle looming, BFC went all out in attack but Sporting seemed to be content with a draw. The home side almost snatched a win in the last minute of injury time in a goalmouth scramble before they were pulled back for offside.
'Sporting's time-wasting tactics' At the post-match media brief ing, BFC coach Ashley Westwood expressed satisfac tion at the team's perform ance.
“We could not score but other than that everything went according to plan,“ he said. “The opposition were desperate to waste time and were holding on to dear life,“ he said admitting that they were difficult to break down.
Meanwhile Sporting's Oscar Bruzon also admitted the draw was a fair result.
“I am happy with the defen sive tactics,“ he said while admitting that there were few clear chances.
“We didn't come here to waste time. We came here for three points,“ countered Bruzon while admitting that being the first club to keep a clean sheet at BFC's home ground was pleasing fact in itself.
