The woodwork saved the blushes for the local outfit once while their defenders effected two goalline saves during the later stages of the opening half as the visitors planned their attacks around the throwing prowess of midfielder Belal Ahmed.

Belal repeatedly caused terror in the East Bengal box with his deep and measured throws, with Muktijoddha strikers Saiful Islam Saif and Rokonuzzaman Kanchan going for the follow up header.

In the 29th minute, one of Belal's throws from the left caught the East Bengal defence napping and Kanchan took a quick header which hit the post, much to the relief of the spectators.

Belal again showed his mastery in the 41st minute when a deep throw from the left was met with a header by Saif but East Bengal central defender Selwyn Fernandes made a goalline save. Muktijoddha players, however, claimed that the ball had crossed the goalline but referee Chynybekov Kadypbek of Kyrgyzsthan did not oblige.

More trouble was in store for the home side as Belal's measured throw from the right two minutes later reached Kanchan who took a low header but Climax Lawrence returned the ball from near the goalline before Chandan Das made the final clearance.

The flood-lit encounter at the Salt Lake stadium saw East Bengal controlling the proceedings in the initial minutes. However, the local side's attacks lacked sting as their half wing put up a poor display with the Muktijoddha defenders repeatedly cutting out their forays.

In the 16th minute, Climax Lawrence cut into the box from the right but his low centre went straight to rival goalkeeper Titumir Choudhury.

A little later, East Bengal's Brazilian recruit Juliano Martins set up Malsawmtluanga with a good cross and the latter released the ball fast for Chukwuma Jeremaiah but the striker failed to take a quick shot.

East Bengal coach Subhash Bhowmick used all the three foreigners in the first eleven, but the trio -- Martins, Marcos Rogerio Jecco and Jeremaiah -- seemed lacklustre.

The gold and yellow brigade, however, was well served by Syed Rahim Nabi who repeatedly went up the flank to assist his forwards and dropped back whenever necessary to shore up the defence.

The first half saw both sides going into the attack, but the show was quite insipid after the breather.

Belal's throws also seemed innocuous in the second session with East Bengal custodian Rajat Ghosh Dastidar coming out of his charge to collect the ball before it could reach any of the strikers.

Belal was taken off in the 58th minute and East Bengal had possessional supremacy as time wore out though their forwards failed to get the openings.