(Football news) The Athletic Stadium in Bambolim featured a clash between Bengaluru FC and Jamshedpur FC in a fixture that had everything except for a goal. With the two sides sharing a point each, Jamshedpur FC moved to second in the Indian Super League table, three points behind Mumbai City FC while Bengaluru FC now have two consecutive draws and are second last on the table.

For a second game in a row, Sunil Chhetri started the match on the bench while their opponents Jamshedpur FC suffered a blow before the match even began as Lithuanian striker Nerijus Valskis suffered in injury during warm-up and was replaced by Jordan Murray. Bengaluru FC’s Udanta Singh caused Jamshedpur a few problems early in the match but the Indian international failed to convert those opportunities into goals. The 25 year old should have converted the tap in from Ajith Kamaraj's cross and later ran past the Jamshedpur defense to square the ball into the box but none of the Bengaluru strikers could make contact with the ball. 

At the other end, Brazilian midfielder Alex Lima began causing problems for Bengaluru FC but failed to find the back of the net as his effort went wide after swiveling past three men to take a shot. Jamshedpur FC’s Greg Stewart, who scored a hat-trick in his last match started influencing the game as he attempted to cross towards Murray but Bengaluru FC’s Gurpreet Singh Sandhu made a vital clearance. Jamshedpur FC’s Rehenesh TP made a brilliant save when Ashique Kuruniyan gave a perfect delivery to Cleiton Silva whose header was cleared by the goalkeeper. 

For Jamshedpur, Greg Stewart and Alex Lima continued to threaten Bengaluru FC but their defense kept them in the game. Despite having a couple of shots, Prince Ibarra failed to hit the target while Cleiton was substituted for Sunil Chhetri with a quarter of an hour to go. The Indian captain almost got the winner in the 83rd minute when a long freekick by Ashique found Chhetri’s head but the ball bounced off the crossbar due to a slight deflection from Alan Costa as the game ended 0-0.

Bengaluru FC will next face Chennaiyin FC at the Tilak Maidan on Thursday, 30th December while Jamshedpur FC will take on Kerala Blasters on Sunday, 26th December.

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