ATK Mohun Bagan lost their chance of getting closer to the table-topper Mumbai FC as they suffered a 2-1 defeat against NorthEast United. A perfect goal from Roy Krishna was not enough to salvage the match even for a single point for the Mariners.NorthEast United proves again to be a different team under Khalid Jamil, who bagged two wins in the first two matches since his return to the club.
Two key players from ATK Mohun Bagan, Edu Garcia and Subhasish Bose were unavailable due to injuries. Javi Hernandez and Sumit Rathi started in their place respectively, and the latter had a very little impact on the match. From the first minute, the mariners were charged up, yet Javi Hernandez made a foul and provided a freekick to the highlanders at the very first minute.
North East United was not far behind in the attacking prowess. At the 5th minute, Louis Machado shot the ball from the left side from the box which was blocked. It was followed by an attempt by Javi, from a pass by Roy Krishna. It was followed by a couple of fouls by Javi and David Williams.
NorthEast United got a couple of good chances when Mashoor Shareef shot from the centre and it was missed by a few inches to the right. Also, two shots from Dorjee Tamang and Federico Gallego were blocked.
A period of heavy attack from ATK Mohun Bagan kept the NorthEast on the toes. From a Javi corner, Krishna took a shot which was poorly managed by Subhasish Roy Chowdhury. Deshorn brown cleared it hastily and then blocked a subsequent shot from Tiri who missed the header from the corner.
The Highlanders missed two chances as Sudhir Vadakkepeedika and Deshorn Brown shot the ball over the bar at 34th and 38th minute respectively. The first half remained goalless with some shots from both teams but none were able to find the net.
Gurjinder Kumar from NorthEast United was shown a yellow card at the 49th minute in the second half, as he was involved in a nasty foul. ATK Mohun Bagan Was constantly charging at this point. Multiple shots from Prabir Das, Roy Krishna and Manvir Singh were either blocked or were too high.
At the hour mark, Luis Machado opened the scorecard for the highlanders with a controversial goal. Gallego raised the ball at the centre of the box and Machado broke into a run, when he pushed Tiri to the ground with his shoulder. Even the assistant raised the flag but the referee did not stop play when Machado scored to the bottom left, around the stretched arm of the keeper.
Shereef was about to double the lead for the Highlanders but his head from the corner hit the left post. At this point, Mariners got back in the game, from a pass by Komal Thatal. His pass found Carl Mchugh who raised a ball at the 72nd minute and Roy Krishna settled the score with a left-footed shot from the left side.
At the 74th minute, there was a nasty foul by Pronay Halder and he was shown a yellow card. A couple of shots were blocked as Mariners continued their attack. Komal Khatal shot two times but those were blocked.
At the 81st minute, NorthEast United restored their lead thanks to Gallego. Rochharzela passed to Gallego who found the goal with a stunner of a right-footed shot from outside of the box.
After it, Machado missed a shot by an inch when he shot the ball from outside the box but it missed to the right. 2 minutes later a handball was made by Khassa Kamara, but ATK Mohun Bagan did not benefit from that. There was contact from Subhasish Roy Chowdhury with Roy Krishna, but the referee overruled the penalty claim. At the first minute of added time, Jayesh Rane from the mariners was shown the yellow card. A few attempts were there from ATK Mohun Bagan but it was of no use.
Hero of the Match: Federico Gallego
With 1 goal and one assist, Federico Gallego was the key player of NorthEast United tonight who had the most impact on the game. He was rightly selected as the Hero of the Match tonight. Rochharzela received the DHL Winning Pass of the Match award.
This defeat is a big setback for the Mariners, who will have to introspect and find out what went wrong. They have the next match against Kerala Blasters on 31st January. The win is a huge boost for the Highlanders who climb to the fifth spot in the table. They have their next match against table-toppers Mumbai City on 30th January, where they will look for an upset.
