Mohun Bagan hold Thailand's Osotspa M-150 0-0 in AFC Cup

Bangkok, Apr (UNI) Mohun Bagan maintained their unbeaten record with a goalless draw against Thailand club Osotspa M-150 in the Group F encounter of the AFC Cup football tournament here today.

With this draw, the Kolkata giants have amassed five points from three outings so far, having beaten Pahang of Malaysia 2-1 in away match and drawn Tampine Rovers of Singapore 0-0 in Kolkata.

Osotspa have collected four points from three matches while Tampine Rovers are with four points from two matches in the four-team group. Pahang have yet to open their account.

Six Group winners, one best runners-up from Group A, B and C and one best runner-up from Group D, E and F qualify for the quarter-final stage of the competition.

The Thai side, which went into the game looking to bounce back from their 2-1 defeat to Tampines Rovers in their previous outing, dominated for most part of the match but failed to find the winning goal.

Bagan signalled their attacking intentions right from the start with a three-pronged attack of skipper Jose Barreto, Lalawmpuia and star striker Baichung Bhutia, but found the going tough on a Royal Thai Army Stadium pitch that was churning up badly following an early afternoon downpour.

However, despite Bagan's domination of the early possession, Osotspa soon gained the supremacy in the first half with some skilful play that belied the heavy pitch.

In the first session, Osotspa had two half chances. First Ponlawat Wangkahad's angled drive was kept out by Bagan keeper Shilton Paul and later defender Sanjeev Maria blocked a stinging Jakkrit Bunkham drive that may have broken the deadlock.

The Thai side, which came second in 2006 league, continued their dominance in the second session also and Jakkrit quickly came close to redeeming himself on two occasions.

In the 56th minute, Jakkrit's curling shot went just wide off the mark and then, in the 62nd minute, he hit a sweetly struck volley that dipped over the Mohun Bagan bar.

The green and maroon Kolkata outfit seemed bereft of ideas but they were almost gifted the lead late in the second half against the run of play when a cross-shot from Bhutia squirmed through the hands of Thai goalkeeper Narong and onto the roof of the net during a rare foray into the Osotspa half.

Mohun Bagan: Shilton Paul, Deepak Mondal, Douglas da Silva, Sanjeev Maria, D Ravanan (Subhas Chakraborty; 64th minute), Mehtab Hussein (Anit Ghosh; 82nd), Dulal Biswas, Lal Kamal Bhowmick, Jose Ramirez Barreto, Lalawmpuia (Suman Dutta; 41st), Bhaichung Bhutia UNI