SC East Bengal held a wasteful Jamshedpur FC for a goalless draw to secure their first point of the Indian Super League at the Tilak Maidan Stadium, in Vasco, on Thursday.
SCEB's Eugeneson Lyngdoh was given the marching orders following a second yellow card in the 25th minute but their defence led by Hero-of-the-Match Mohammed Irshad stayed compact and foiled every attempt of the Red Miners.
After three losses on the trot, laggards SCEB finally opened their account as they now have one point from four matches, while JFC moved to fifth place with six points from five games.
SCEB coach Robbie Fowler criticised the referee's decision for the second yellow on Lyngdoh and said the 'standard needs to improve'.
"I tried speaking to the official but they simply didn't listen. It's ridiculous. The standard of refereeing needs to improve. We felt as if we were playing against 12 players," the Liverpool legend said at the post-match interaction.
He, however, seemed happy to have secured a point.
"For a team playing with 10 players we were resolute. We fully deserved the point," he said lauding his defence.
Fresh from a stunning win over ATK Mohun Bagan, the Nerijus Valskis-led JFC attack struggled to find the net on multiple occasions, while the woodwork denied them twice.
The match ended with both the teams on 10 men when JFC's Laldinliana Renthlei was sent off following a second yellow in the 90+2nd minute after his tackle from behind against Jacques Maghoma.
SCEB were dealt a big blow in the 25th minute when they were reduced to 10 players after Lyngdoh was sent off following two yellow cards in space of four minutes.
The midfielder swung his foot and got a faint touch to take down Alexandre Lima, which prompted the referee to dish out a second yellow card.
The Red Miners had the first opportunity at goal in the sixth minute but Aniket Jadhav's shot ballooned over the post from close range.
In the 38th minute, the Red Miners were inches away from scoring from a Monroy corner that found Stephen Eze near the goal post, but the header hit the crossbar.
Then in the 68th minute, Alex Lima's faced a similar fate when his shot came off the woodwork.
