East Bengal hold Safa

East Bengal and Lebanon's Safa FC played out a goalless draw in a dull and drab AFC Cup Group B encounter in Kolkata on Wednesday.

There was little action with play remaining confined mostly at the midfield before a sparse crowd at the Salt Lake stadium.

After five games, the Lebanon outfit still lead the group standings with nine points, while East Bengal have increased their tally to seven points.

The match saw East Bengal playing well in patches, but the absence of Brazilian striker Edmilson Marques was amply felt with Syed Rahim Nabi and Ike Ibe Gift failing to drum up a good rhythm.

The Federation Cup winners, who had lost 0-1 to Safa in their tournament lung-opener, came close to scoring in the very second minute, as Gift initiated a good attack and fed Nabi whose header was narrowly off-target.

A few minutes later, Alvito D' Cunha showed his mettle as he unleashed a swift left footer which Safa custodian Nazih Tay gathered without any hiccups.

Safa had the first look at the rival goal in the 18th minute, when their Ghanaian import Bobby Prince let go a power-packed long ranger that blew over. 

Tay saved Safa's downfall later in the first session when he fisted out of harms way a long sortie from Surkumar Singh. 

With the opening half drawing to a close, East Bengal had a narrow escape, thanks to a goal-line clearance by central defender Anupam Sarkar after Safa medio Mohamad Khorhani's centre had foxed East Bengal custodian Subrata Paul.

The second session was more sedate, with none of the sides managing to make much headway deep into the opponent territory.