Mohun Bagan drew level on points with rivals East Bengal at the top of the Hero I-League table after a busy week of action. The Mariners were held to a 0-0 stalemate by Mumbai FC at the Cooperage Ground on Wednesday before coming from behind to beat DSK Shivajians 3-1 at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium in Kolkata on Saturday.Hero ISL’s first Indian scorer and former Chennaiyin FC forward Balwant Singh scored the equaliser for Mohun Bagan in the 42nd minute after Milan Singh’s (Delhi Dynamos FC) opener for DSK a little after the half hour mark. Balwant got his second of the game a minute before half-time to give his side the lead at the break. Skipper Yusa Katsumi (NorthEast United FC) then secured maximum points for his team in the 89th minute by finding the back of the net to make it 3-1.East Bengal’s only match of the week saw them share the spoils with Shillong Lajong after a 1-1 draw at the Kanchanjangha Stadium in Siliguri. Samuel Lalmuanpuia gave the vistors the lead in the 20th minute before Willis Plaza levelled proceedings for East Bengal at the the stroke of half-time.However, Shillong claimed maximum points in convincing fashion later in the week by defeating Chennai City 4-1 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Sunday. Fabio Henrique gave Shillong a first half lead before Isaac Vanmalsawma, Bipin Singh and Asier Dipanda added one each in the second period. Haroon Fakhruddin scored a consolation goal for the southern outfit a minute from full-time. Chennai’s previous match in the week witnessed them earn a point after playing out a 1-1 draw at home against Churchill Brothers. Former Mumbai City FC man Brandon Fernandes gave Churchill the lead but Charles de Souza levelled the game for Chennai shortly after.Meanwhile, reigning champions Bengaluru FC’s title defence took another blow after 1-1 and 0-0 draws against Aizawl FC and Mumbai FC at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Aizawl and the Cooperage Ground in Mumbai resepctively. The encounter against Aizawl saw the Blues fall behind to a Brandon Vanlalremdika goal in the 40th minute before Sunil Chhetri (Mumbai City FC) found the equaliser five minutes later. It was Chettri’s 90th goal of his National Football League (NFL) and I-League career combined, taking him past the legendary Baichung Bhutia as the top Indian scorer in the country’s top-tier football league.Elsewhere, Minerva Punjab moved further away from the bottom of the table with four points from six after games against DSK Shivajians and Churchill Brothers. After taking part in a 0-0 stalemate at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana against DSK on Wednsday, Minerva were involved in the game of the week against Churchill Brothers at the Tilak Maidan Stadium, Vasco da Gama in Goa on Sunday. The match ended 5-4 in Minerva’s favour with David Ngaihte, Simranjeet Singh, Souvik Das, Loveday Enyinnaya and Kareem Nurain scoring for the northern-outfit, while Ansumana Kromah netted a brace and Chesterpoul Lyngdoh (7') as well as Adil Khan scored one each for the Goan club.
