The much-anticipated encounter between East Bengal and Dempo Sports Club turned out to be a damp squib as the two big names of Indian football played out a drab 0-0 draw, in the Osian's Durand Cup at the Ambedkar stadium in Delhi on Monday.
The Kolkata and Goan giants provided lacklustre fare, the only noteworthy incident being the sending off of East Bengal midfielder Dipankar Roy at the beginning of the second half.
However, the Goan outfit squandered several chances and could not make their numerical advantage count.
The other match in Group 'B' also followed on similar lines, as defending champions Army XI and JCT, Phagwara, failed to find the net.
Dempo's Brazilian captain Robert Silva, popularly known as 'Beto' and right-winger Jerry Zirsanga were not lacking in endeavour, but East Bengal's defence, especially after going a man down, did not give them much joy.
The first half was largely uneventful and neither goalkeeper were tested as the attempts were rarely on target.
After the breather, the Kolkata giants were reduced to 10 men when Dipankar Roy was given his marching orders by referee K Shankar for a wild tackle from behind on Dempo left-winger Clifford Miranda at the half-way line with the match just 47 minutes old.
The Goan team tried to capitalise on the situation, but Beto made a mess of a beautiful centre by Zirsanga into the six-yard box with East Bengal keeper Rajat Ghosh Dastidar at his mercy.
Just after the hour mark, another probing cross from Zirsanga was headed on to the crossbar by Anthony Pereira, with Valeriano Rebelo smashing the rebound high and wide.
At the other end, Dempo keeper Satish Kumar was called into action when he had to tip over a powerful long ranger from substitute Bimal Pariyar.
The Goan side held the upper hand for most of the second half and a Joaqim Abranches header of a pass from Nigerian Majek Bolaji found its way into the net, only to be ruled off-side.
Another pin-point pass from Bolaji was well-received by compatriot Ranty Martins, but his shot from the edge of the box went just wide.
East Bengal could have nicked the points against the run of play when a brilliant through ball from Chandan Das reached Pariyar, who expertly shrugged off the attention of Bolaji, but Satish Kumar made a point blank one-on-one save to deny the Kolkata outfit.
Despite failing to get the three points, Dempo coach Armando Colaco was not overtly disappointed.
"We created several chances, but could not make them count. After they had a man sent off, we pushed up but it was one of those days," he said.
"My players played well enough. In the first half, we let them have more of the ball and planned to be on the offensive in the second," he added.
