Hyderabad FC failed to hold on for a rare win in the Indian Super League as lucky ATK slogged to a 2-2 draw at the GMC Balayogi Athletic Stadium in Hyderabad on Saturday.
Roy Krishna (15’ penalty) and Bobo (39’) scored a goal each in the first half. Bobo scored his second of the evening in the 85th minute with a brilliant header for Hyderabad. Krishna, however, scored his eighth of the season with a late strike in the 90th minute to win a point for his side.
Phil Brown started with the attacking trio of Nestor Gordillo, Marcelinho and Bobo as they searched for their second win in the ISL. Antonio Habas chose to drop Michael Soosairaj and Prabir Das and handed a start to Jobby Justin and Sumit Rathi as the two wingbacks.
The first chance came in the seventh minute when Bobo found Nestor and the Spaniard’s shot from inside the box missed the near post by a few inches.
Javier Hernandez’s cross from the left was deemed to have been handled by Ashish Rai as the referee pointed to the spot. Krishna struck from the ensuing penalty as the visitors took the lead against the run of play.
Hyderabad should have equalised soon after as Marcelinho’s corner-kick only needed a nudge after Arindam Bhattacharya came off his line and missed the flight of the ball.
They had another chance a few minutes later when Rohit Kumar, Adil Khan and Marcelinho combined with the Brazilian’s final shot missing the target.
Hyderabad equalised in the 38th minute when Nestor sent in a cross from the left which was met by Bobo who headed it home despite being under pressure from Salam Ranjan and Pritam Kotal.
ATK could have taken the lead again as Jobby’s header sailed over the bar from a Hernandez free-kick. Krishna and Williams combined a few minutes later with the latter being fed by a quality cross. However, an important interception by Adil Khan denied Williams as Hyderabad survived a scare.
Both coaches made a couple of changes as they searched for the second goal with Mohammad Yasir and Robin Singh coming in for the home side, while Prabir Das and Soosairaj were thrown into the mix for the visitors.
The second goal for Hyderabad came in the 85th minute. Marcelinho’s cross saw Bobo glance it to the far post to beat Bhattacharya in goal to make it 2-1 for the home team.
However, ATK found a way back thanks to an error by Kamajit. The goalkeeper’s clearance went straight to Hernandez who headed it onto the path of Krishna. The Fijian striker simply lobbed the ball over the goalkeeper to rescue a point for the visitors.
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