India did not much good to their AFC Asian Cup qualifying campaign, but salvaged a point at the National Stadium in Singapore, as Rahim Ali's 90th-minute equaliser gave them a 1-1 draw against Singapore, for their second point of the campaign so far.
At the halfway stage, qualification looks distant for India, but it could've looked way worse after Sandesh Jhingan's red card early in the second half followed Ikhsan Fandi's goal for Singapore in first-half stoppage time.
Right from the start, even with a lineup that looked attacking on paper, India stitched together nothing of note. Macarton Nickson, on his senior international debut, barely got the ball in midfield. Sunil Chhetri and Farukh Choudhary made nothing stick, Lallianzuala Chhangte was isolated on the right and Liston Colaco could never fully spark to life.
Singapore, meanwhile, controlled possession in midfield through the excellent Kyoga Nakamura, and were always a threat down the flanks, with Shawal Anuar and Glenn Kweh troubling Muhammed Uvais and Rahul Bheke respectively.
A long ball from Hariss Harun towards Kweh on the left, just evaded him, but he had outpaced Bheke with an out-to-in run. That was the warning sign. India didn't pay heed to it. Nakamura played a similar pass to the other side, where Uvais tracked back, and then took his eyes off the ball and ran in a straight line when Anuar had cut inside. He took the ball beautifully with his left foot, jinked past Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, and then saw Ikhsan take the ball past him into an empty net.
Before that, Ikhsan was challenged on the halfway line for Jhingan's first yellow card -- the defender inexplicably attempting a slide tackle on him when the ball was at chest height. The second yellow card for Jhingan, two minutes into the second half, was just as needless. With Ikhsan running at him inside the opposition's final third, Jhingan put his arm to the striker's face, and the referee had no choice but to send him off, despite his protestations.
Singapore had their chances to finish the game off, but Ilhan Fandi, who replaced Ikhsan, missed a couple of gilt-edged chances, where he shouldn't have given Gurpreet Singh Sandhu a chance, but the Indian goalkeeper stepped up with two big saves to keep his team in the contest.
India didn't create any chance of note, apart from a Liston Colaco free-kick which Rahul Bheke headed wide in the first half, so by the end of the game, it was clear that the only way they would score was if Singapore made a big mistake, and that came from Jordan Emawive, who played a short back-pass back towards goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud. Rahim pressed the goalkeeper, got a bit fortunate as the goalkeeper's clearance ricocheted off him and towards goal, and then he had the easy task of tapping the ball into an empty net, as India thanked the luck that shone on them to take away a point that they perhaps didn't deserve.
You can relive the match, as it happened, in our live blog below: