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[caption id="attachment_5338" align="alignnone" width="580"] Defending champions Mohun Bagan were held to a goalless draw against Mumbai FC at Cooperage . File Pic[/caption] Internet Desk : Mumbai FC held on to a goalless draw against Mohun Bagan in an I-League clash at the Cooperage stadium on Wednesday evening. The game at Cooperage saw seven yellow cards as the hosts managed to grind out a point against the champions. The home side made three changes from their 1-0 loss to DSK, A. Mehta, M. Meitei and T. Matsugae make way for A. Ali, A. Dias and N.P. Pradeep while Brandon Fernandes made way for Bikramjit Singh for the Mariners. In the first 10 minutes of the match Mumbai FC looked very constructive barring some dead ball situations coming the Bagan way. Both the sides had a tendency of playing long balls in a bid to crack opposition defenses down, a tactic that has been used at the Cooperage quite a bit over the years. Mariners had a chance to get a goal lead but Glen found himself trapped in an offside position. In the 15th minute of the match Eric Brown took a free kick from 35 yards but went straight to Debjit Majumder. In the 21st minute Mumbai got their first booking through Pratik Chaudhari when he made a harsh tackle against Cornell Glen. He was showed a yellow card. Both the teams could not utilize their flanks well as the ground seemed too short to use the flanks. In the 37th minute Mumbai FC received a corner kick from the edge of the box but no damage was done as the score line remained goalless. Just before the end of the first half Mohun Bagan received  a corner on the edge of the box which is considered a dangerous position. Katsumi’s shot was blocked by the Mumbai wall.The score line read 0-0 at half-time. Mumbai FC won a free kick just after the breather but wasted it completely. Mumbai tried to play some pass in the central midfield zone with N.P .Pradeep linking up well with Ryuki Kozawa on the right but Sushil Singh’s effort to get on to the ball resulted in foul. Sushil Singh looked ordinary in the forward line. He was running out of a partner which made him struggle in the Mariners defense. In the 54th minute of the match Luciano Sabrosa was booked through a harsh tackle on Sushil Singh. Few minutes later skipper N.P.Pradeep was also booked after he brought down Sony Norde in the centre-circle. Khalid Jamil made a tactical change in 66th minute bringing in Asif Kottayil for Pratik Chaudhuri who looked very ordinary today. Few minutes later Sony Norde missed a golden chance on the far post from Katsumi cross which is totally unexpected from the Haitian International. In the 73rd minute Allan Dias was booked by the referee as he brought down Katsumi. This awarded Mohun Bagan a free-kick. Katsumi took it and smashed it straight into the traffic. It was third straight chance wasted by Bagan. Asif was also booked due to silly tackle which was not at all needed on Bikramjit Singh. In the 77th minute, Arata tried to find Kozawa on the right and does that but the winger could not beat Kinshuk. Mumbai did well this evening to utilize the skill of their wide men despite the scoreline showed otherwise. Bikramjit Singh was later booked which was sixth yellow card of the match. Both Mohun Bagan and Mumbai made two quick changes in the business end of the match to inject some fresh legs. Mumbai brought in Ashutosh Mehta in place of Srtikanth Ramu who looked good in the defensive line and the Mariners brought in Souvik Chakroborty in place of Bikramjit Singh. Ashutosh Mehta was soon booked for a yellow card in the injury time but was of no harm. At the final whistle the match ended in a goalless draw. Mumbai remained fourth on the table with 9 points from 6 games while Mohun Bagan remained on third position with 11 points from 5 games. Mohun bagan will next face Bengaluru FC in the crucial encounter in Bengaluru on the 13th February. Bengaluru won today’s encounter by routing DSK  Shivajians 4-1.