Bengaluru FC scored a facile 4-1 win over Delhi Dynamos in their ISL league encounter played at the Sree Kanteerava stadium premises here yesterday.
Erik Partaalu struck twice (24th and 45th minute) while Lenny Rodriguez (57th) and Miku (87th) piled on the misery. Kalu Uche scored from the penalty spot in the 86th minute to pull one back for the Dynamos after a contentious penalty went their way.
With this win, Bengaluru climbed to the top of the league table with six points from two matches. Partaalu nodded home for his first goal after he received the header from Harmanjot Khabra on Edu Garcia’s free-kick on the right. He scored his second goal as he headed the ball past Albino Gomes on Edu Garcia’s corner-kick.
Lenny Rodriguez registered the third goal on a rebound from Albino Gomes’ hands as he tried to clear Udanta Singh’s shot in 57th minute. Before Lenny could score the goal though, Sunil Chhetri did well to find Udanta, who controlled the ball well before sending in the cross on the left.
Nicolas Ladislao Fedor Flores (Miku) finally opened his account too as he got the fourth goal for the home side in 87th minute when his shot whizzed past Albino’s reach.
The Dynamos were awarded a penalty, from which Uche scored, after John Johnson was pulled up for a handling the ball inside the box when trying to clear Seitysen Singh’s cross. The home side missed a scoring chance in the 39th minute as goalkeeper lbino Gomes saved a left-footed shot of Garcia off skipper Chhetri’s pass.
Bengaluru wasted yet another chance in the 77th minute after Albino did well to dive to his left and punched the shot taken by Miku after Delhi lost possession of the ball. Both the coaches fielded the same teams which had beaten their respective rivals in their last encounters.
Dynamos had only one real chance in the match as Kalu Uche’s header whizzed off-target off a Guyon Luis Fenandez cross inside Bengaluru’s box in the 37th minute. Before having a go at the home side goal, Uche received a pass from Claudio Matias Mirajbe Correa.
In the ninth minute, Paulinho Dias’ right-footed shot from right flank was punched away to safety by Bengaluru goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
Marcelinho stars as Pune rout ATK 4-1
Kolkata: In the earlier match, Marcelo Pereira spoilt ATK’s first home match of the season as the Brazilian led FC Pune City’s 4-1 rout of the two-time defending champions in their Indian Super League football fixture at the Salt Lake Stadium, here yesterday.
Last season’s Golden Boot winner Marcelinho once again proved why he was the biggest threat as he struck a double (13th and 60th minutes) and also assisted two other goals in a fine display of wing play to bury ATK in front of their home fans.
The match was in balance with Pune leading by a slender one-goal margin at halftime, and ATK’s Bipin Singh produced a stunning 50th minute freekick after the changeover much to the joy of the anxious home fans.
But that remained the solitary moment of joy for the most successful ISL franchise as Rohit Kumar scored off a flying header from a Marcelinho freekick within a minute before Emiliano Alfaro completed the rout in the 81st minute with the Brazilian once again playing the assist.
FC Pune City, who lost 2-3 to Delhi Dynamos at home in their ISL opener, thus opened their account in style while it was misery for ATK as they remained on one point that came off a goal-less draw against Kerala Blasters in Kochi.
Pune got off to a dream start capitalising on an awful defensive lapse by Tom Thorpe who misjudged the flight of a long ball allowing Emiliano Alfaro to sneak into the box from left.
The forward squared it off to an unmarked Marcelinho who slotted it past the left of Majumder with a precision finish as the ATK goalkeeper had no chance. A stunning freekick from ATK forward Bipin Singh cancelled the lead five minutes after the changeover but the home team’s joy was shortlived as Pune regained the lead in one minute.
Wasting no time, Pune bounced back through Rohit Kumar who used Marcelo’s corner to perfection to bury a powerful header past the ATK goalkeeper. ATK wasted a fine chance in the 24th minute when their Portuguese midfielder Zequinha broke through the heart of midfield with a charging solo run and blasted a shot away on goal from outside the box.
But Kamaljit Singh thwarted the brilliant effort and Hitesh Sharma also failed to score from the rebound with Baljit Sahni making an alert tackle to avoid any danger. The Pune goalkeeper once again stood out in the 66th minute to thwart an attempt from Robin Singh.
This post was published on November 27, 2017 6:34 pm