Punjab FC & Bangladesh Army play out a goalless Durand Cup draw!

Punjab FC and Bangladesh Army played out a goalless draw in a group A fixture of the 132nd Durand Cup which was played at the Saltlake Stadium in Kolkata. This is Bangladesh Army’s second draw in the tournament against an ISL side after they had drawn against East Bengal FC. With this draw Bangladesh Army have completed their group engagements with two points from three matches while Punjab FC have one point from two matches.

Punjab FC head coach Staikos Vergetis made eight changes to the starting lineup after their loss to Mohun Bagan SG with only Nikhil Prabhu, Melroy Assisi and Amarjit Singh Kiyam retaining their places. Bangladesh Army head coach Abdur Razzaque named an unchanged side which drew their previous game against East Bengal FC.

Punjab FC dominated possession from the start of the half with Juan Mera controlling the game in the midfield supported by Amarjit Kiyam and Maheson Singh. The Bangladesh Army defence were resilient and defended deep in their own half. Punjab FC tried to beat the tight defence with shot passes as the wing backs Nitesh Darjee and Abhishek Singh joining the attacks along with centre forward Daniel Lalhimpuia.

Bangladesh Army were content to play on the counter and used the set pieces well to create chances. The first real chance of the game came for Punjab FC through some intricate play which found Daniel Lalhimpuia whose shot was saved by Bangladesh Army keeper Ashraful Islam Rana.

The best chance of the half came when Bangladesh Army captain Mehedi Hasan’s header back to his keeper was short and Daniel pounced on the opportunity but his shot was brilliantly saved by the Bangladesh Army keeper.

The best moment for Bangladesh Army came when left back Mohammed Kamrul Islam’s pile driver of a shot was saved acrobatically by Punjab FC goalkeeper Ravi Kumar. Bangladesh Army forced the Punjab FC attackers to take attempts outside the box as they found it difficult to penetrate the defence as the match remained goalless at the lemon break.

Staikos Vergetis introduced Kingslee Fernandes and Ranjeet Singh Pandre instead of Maheson Singh and Juan Mera in the second half. Punjab FC intensified their attack with Samuel Kynshi Lyngdoh shifting to the right wing. Daniel had a chance to score again from a cross by left back Nitesh Darjee but his shot went wide.

Bangladesh Army continued to defend resiliently not allowing Punjab FC to create any clear cut chances. They put multiple men behind each attack which made it tough for the Punjab FC attackers to break down the defence. Punjab FC lacked any sort of creativity even with having 64% possession.

In the end both teams had to be satisfied with a point each.

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