Pune FC came from behind to salvage a point against Pailan Arrows in an I-League round 12 encounter at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata, on Thursday.

Jibon Singh handed Pailan Arrows a surprise lead in the 14^th minute before Mandjou Keita finally converted one of the several chances that the away side created in the 40^th minute.

 With a full squad at his disposal, Pune FC coach Derrick Pereira made one change in the starting eleven from the previous match as Othallo Tabia made way for striker Jeje Lalpekhlua, who was paired upfront with Keita.

In the initial minutes, Pune FC dominated but ran out of ideas in the final third. Mis-passes owing to a casual approach was the order of the game. A counter-attack by Pune FC after a free-kick given on the other end almost resulted in a goal but Jeje was flagged offside and a wonderful chance went begging.

The Arrows too threatened on the other end as Abhra Mondal had to come to the rescue of his team-mates, as he tipped over a goal-bound header.

The home side made no mistake with their second attempt though, as this time Jibon Singh did well to follow-up and find the back of the net after Abhra had punched the ball out.

The goal triggered Pune FC into action. Central midfielder Douhou Pierre looked threatening as he embarked on a solo run, only to lose his footing at the crucial moment. Then Karma found Keita in a dangerous area, who in turn set up Shanmugam Venkatesh only to see the veteran midfielder scuff his shot.

The Guinean forward Keita then skied a presentable chance from just 8 yards out.

Meanwhile the hosts continued to trouble the Pune FC backline as once a cross was just a fraction away from being turned in while on another opportunity the Arrows saw their effort come off the post.

Pune FC made an early substitution bringing in Baldeep Singh for Karma which meant moving Lester Fernandez to the right.

Douhou then almost put Jeje through but the opponent’s keeper Naveen Kumar was quick to read the run. Lester got into the act with a long-ranger that ended up with the custodian pulling off a great save.

After Jeje had tried his luck once again, Keita finally equalized for Derrick Pereira’s side as he latched on to a pass by Lester and finished with aplomb.

On resumption, Naveen was almost found off his guard when Srikanth sent a cross in, which tantalizingly went over the bar. On the other end a mix-up between Caitano Costa and Srikanth almost let Bijendra Singh in, but Chika Wali cleared the danger.

Jeje then missed a glorious chance to put the Red Lizards ahead when after being put clean through by Keita, the young Mizo shot straight at the keeper.

The former Indian Arrows striker had one last chance but his lobbed effort failed to find the back of the net, after which he was replaced by Paresh Shivalkar

 At the other end, Chika Wali kept the Arrows danger man C.S Sabeeth in check throughout the game and Abhra continued to have a good game in goal as he kept out a header from the left.

The hosts were almost made to rue this missed chance as Keita had a golden opportunity to put Pune FC ahead but the Guinean missed an open header.

Neither team created any other chance of note after this and the game ended in a 1-1 draw which helped Pune FC extend their unbeaten run to six games and helped the Red Lizards to move to 5^th in the league table with 19 points.