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Churchill Brothers' efforts to regain the second spot in the I-League points table got a jolt as East Bengal came from behind to hold Churchill Brothers to a 2-2 draw at the Nehru Stadium on Sunday.
Churchill, who led 1-0 at halftime, scored through Odafe Okolie (37th) and Felix Chimaokwu (56th) while East Bengal fought in the second half and scored through Mehtab Hossain (58th) and Sanju Pradhan (68th) to restore parity.
Thus the hosts, who needed a win to move to second place remained on third place with 39 points from 25 matches, one point behind second placed Pune FC.
East Bengal collected 30 points from as many matches.
The visitors looked the better side in both the halves, were more organised in the first half and created ample scoring chances but lacked the finishing touches.
Alvito D'Cunha had a glorious chance to put East Bengal ahead in the 15th minute when he was set up by Beingaichho Bekhokhei with a through pass but he saw his effort hit the post.
Few minutes later Churchill's keeper Arindam Bhattacharya made a diving save to put the ball out of danger off Syed Rahim Nabi header.
Churchill, who rarely troubled the rival defense went ahead in the 37th minute.