Former champion Hyderabad FC and East Bengal FC were locked in a one-all draw in the ISL league match at the GMC Balayogi Stadium here on Saturday.
The home side kept the pressure up from the beginning, compelling Hijazi Maher to concede a corner in the 11th minute. As a consequence of that set-piece, Manoj Mohammad pulled off an aerial effort from the centre of the 18-yard box that missed the target on the right side.
It took a fantastic free-kick from Cleiton Silva of East Bengal in the 64th minute to create the move that broke the deadlock in this match.
Dimitrios Diamantakos won a foul and Silva stepped up on the ball and discharged an impressive delivery that smashed the crossbar, only to find Jeakson Singh who pounced on the rebound and bundled it in to get the visitors ahead, arguably against the run of play.
Substitute Murgaonkar of HFC made an instant impact through an outside-of-the-box shot that was set up for him by Abdul Rabeeh. It didn’t land on target, but showed that the home side was getting on the offensive.
