Agencies
BENGALURU, MARCH 2 :
After a few hits and misses in the season, Bengaluru FC needed something special in the home stretch. With ATK visiting for the first leg of the second Indian Super League semifinal on Sunday, it was an ideal stage for Carles Cuadrat’s team to produce a strong performance. They did just that with a fighting 1-0 victory at Sree Kanteerava Stadium. Deshorn Brown’s 31st-minute strike handed them a slender advantage before next Sunday’s return leg.With both sides making a lot of changes to the teams that met a week ago, Cuadrat sprang a surprise by benching Indian wingers Udanta Singh and Ashique Kuruniyan. As he had predicted, it was a tactical battle between two of the best defences in the league. Instead of going with his usual four-man defence, Cuadrat opted for three, with Nishu Kumar and Rahul Bheke as wing-backs. ATK coach Antonio Lopez Habas opted for a similar formation, with Sumit Rathi, John Johnson and Pritam Kotal making up the defensive line. As the score suggests, it was a neck-and-neck battle, mostly in the midfield. Both sides tried to make forays but none could dominate. It was the hosts who got the first chance. Seven minutes into the match, Dimas Delgado’s corner was met by Bheke, but his effort went just wide. Ten minutes later, ATK had their chance when Roy Krishna picked up a loose ball. David Williams latched on to his through and smashed it past Gurpreet Singh Sandhu. But the Australian seemed to have handled the ball and the goal was disallowed. Bengaluru, however, made their chance count in the 31st minute. Skipper Sunil Chhetri received a long ball from Sandhu and crossed it for Eric Paartalu, who set up Juanan Gonzalez. The Spaniard’s shot was parried by Arindam Bhattacharya at the ATK goal before Brown tapped home.
The second half started on a similar note with the teams trying to get the better of each of other. But despite creating chances, both sides failed to beat the goalkeeper. Bengaluru had the best of the chances, with Chhetri squandering two of them. In the 48th minute, Brown set up Chhetri with a cross but his header was parried by Bhattacharya. Perhaps the best chance of the second half came in the 80th minute, when Chhetri attempted a first-time shot from Paartalu’s cross. It sailed over the crossbar. ATK had their chances to score an away goal but failed to keep the ball on target. With Nishu sent off in the 84th minute after he brought down Krishna, ATK had a free-kick from about 19 yards out.
ISL 2020: Brownie points and slender advantage for Bengaluru FC
