Kolkata: A 10-man Bengaluru FC (BFC) edged past a young Jamshedpur FC (JFC) 2 – 1 in a Group A match of the 131st IndianOil Durand Cup, here at the Kishore Bharathi Kirangan in the southern part of the city on Wednesday. Captain and talisman Sunil Chhetri opened the scoring for the Blues early in the first half, with Roy Krishna doubling the lead on a Sunil assist, in the second. Substitute Rishi pulled one back for JFC from a free-kick, the result of a rash tackle by Blues defender Hira Mondal, which made referee Rahul Gupta give him the marching orders- a first for the tournament.
Free flowing first half
Bengaluru started swiftly, creating a scoring opportunity which was scuffed by Danish Farooq, from a cut back from the left wing by Leon Augustine. The latter was impressive in the match along the left flank along with Udanta Singh on the other wing.
Sunil then opened the scoring for Bengaluru in the 23rd minute with a forceful header of a corner from new signing Prabir Das. Soon after JFC had a golden opportunity to equalize which was wasted by Lenin Singh, who was excellent throughout the game in the middle of the park. Vinil Poojary also came close to equalizing in the 33rd minute from a corner.
Bruno Ramires and Suresh Singh controlled the midfield for Bengaluru providing constant passes to the frontline.
The combination everyone was waiting for
The crowd were waiting for the combination of Sunil Chhetri and star forward Roy Krishna who had signed for BFC from ATK Mohun Bagan at the end of last season. The spectators did not have to wait for too long as both of them combined excellently to score Bengaluru’s second goal in the 56th minute.
Then came Hira’s sending off and the JFC pull-back from the resultant free kick after a beautiful dead ball assist by Vikash Singh. After the goal Jamshedpur tried to put Bengaluru under pressure but the defense stood firm, assisted by some crucial saves from custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
Next games of BFC and JFC
Bengaluru will play Indian Air Force next on August 23 while Jamshedpur play their next match against Mohammaden SC on Sunday.
