Mumbai: As Mumbai City FC and ATK crossed swords at the the former’s home base on Sunday, one would have been forgiven if the mistook the venue for the Salt Lake Stadium, for it was the team from Kolkata that drew the maximum cheers through the 90 minutes.
As it turned out it was the ATK fans who went onto have the last laugh, as their team pulled off a fine performance to edge out the hosts 1-0 after Robin Singh’s second half goal.
The win helped ATK register their first win of the season and crawl out of the bottom place in the Indian Super League table to be placed eighth.
Be it the crowd support or the necessity to win, ATK turned out a clinical performance and if not for Mumbai goal-keeper Amrinder Singh’s reflex saves in the first half, the away side may have won by a bigger margin.
Mumbai’s problems began very early in the game, where they allowed time and space on the ball for their opponents.
Much of ATK’s play came from the flanks, which they used with good effect. Mumbai, on the other hand, were bereft of ideas as their midfield and forward line failed to complement each other.
Former Tottenham and Liverpool star Robbie Keane led most of ATK’s attacks. The Irish star provided
the creative spark, pinging balls to the flanks, teaming up well with Robin Singh and Zeqiunha, who ended up as the game’s only scorer.
Keane had a shot on target too, but it was too weak to test Amrinder, who was in fine form.
Mumbai briefly threatened towards the closing stages of the first half, when Gerson came close to scoring with a header inside the six-yard area.
The best chance of the first 45 minutes, though, undoubtedly fell to Zequinha, but the Portuguese’s powerful run and shot went straight to Amrinder. The chance went begging even as Keane was standing unmarked at the far post.
ATK continued to press hard and showed fluency on the ball in the second period. They made their possession count as Zequinha made up for his earlier error with a fine cross from the left flank, eight minutes into the second half. His pass was met by Robin, who calmly slotted it home.
Balwant Singh and Emana dropped deeper after the goal and that ploy began to swing fortunes in the home side’s way, especially with ATK falling back in defence. The only opening for Teddy Sheringham’s side in the final quarter of the game came through Keane’s free-kick, which was tipped over the bar by Amrinder.
In stoppage time, Debjit Majumder, who hardly had much to do during the 90 minutes made a point-blank save as Mumbai threatened to snatch a point. Balwant smashed a header from an Emana corner soon after, but it went a couple of feet over the bar to end Mumbai’s hopes of late surge.
Chennaiyin FC make comeback with 2-1 win over Bengaluru FC
Jeje Lalpekhlua and Dhanapal Ganesh helped Chennaiyin FC to pull off a thrilling 2-1 victory over Bengaluru FC at Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru.
Jeje slammed the ball home past a hapless Gurpreet after the ball deflected off the BFC defender just five minutes into the match.
Bengaluru skipper Sunil Chhetri equalised for the hosts in the 85th minute but in 88th minute Ganesh sealed the hosts’ fate with a brilliant header off Rene Mihelic floater.
With this loss, Bengaluru are relegated to second position on the points-table with 12 points of six games. Chennaiyin garnered three points and are placed third with FC Pune taking the fourth position with nine points in six games.
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