Goa: ATK Mohun Bagan snatched three points against Odisha FC after their Fijian talisman Roy Krishna scored the all-important goal in the last minute of the match on Thursday, at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda Goa. This win took them to nine points after three games and maintained a 100 per cent record in the seventh edition of the Indian Super League.
The match started at a slow pace as Odisha FC were playing more defensive and were allowing ATKMB players to penetrate. In the meantime, chances were created by both sides. One header from Jacob Tratt went past the ATKMB goal and one shot from Krishna missed the Odisha goal. This was the only highlight of the first half.
In the second half, ATKMB started to press the Odisha and created pressure. But one thing that needs to be mentioned that the Odisha defence played like a rock. The likes of Steven Taylor and Tratt was blocking every ATKMB movements. But when you have a player like Krishna on your side you know that the game is still not over till he says it’s over.
When everyone thought that points will be shared between two sides the twist happened. In the 95th minute, a long free-kick by ATKMB defender Tiri was met by Sandesh Jhingan and it felt in the head of Krishna and the Fijian made no mistake in scoring the all-important goal to seal the deal for ATK Mohun Bagan.
Coach Antonio Lopez Habas will be a happy man. Even one point was okay for him with such a long league to play. No doubt his side looks like a Champion side who are marching with commitment and sheer luck. It’s really great to see that the defence has not conceded a single goal till now.
It’s been a superb quality professional performance by the whole team and it’s still early days we hope for something big again from this ATK Mohun Bagan side led by Habas. Stuart Baxter did everything today as a coach of Odisha FC.
Rather they played better football from their last two outings but one moment of Krishna magic took the game away from his side. This will hurt the morale of the side. We hope that Odisha FC will be back strongly in the latter half of the Indian Super League.
