Goa: Roy Krishna and Roy Krishna! He has always made the difference for ATK last season and now he is doing for ATK Mohun Bagan. Wednesday (December 16) was no different as his late penalty on 85 minutes helped the Kolkata side beat FC Goa 1-0 and helped them to climb up to the second spot in the league table.
The match was about tactics between two Spainish coaches. ATKMB’s Antionio Lopez Habas made his mark in this intriguing battle, why he is chosen to be one of the finest coaches of ISL. Gaurs boss Juan Ferrando just needs more experience to pull out such highly intensified matches.
The match was important for both sides to win and secure a good position in the league table and FC Goa started the way they have been playing this season, with short build-up passes but Habas’s men were clever enough to break those attacks by pressing.
In the first half, Goa just couldn’t have had a single goal mouth attack as all were cut short by ATKMB’s midfielders. David Williams came closest in front of the goal but couldn’t convert.
In the second half, Goa started to use their wings and their game started to open. Igor Angulo the league’s top scorer was totally bottled by Sandesh Jhingan and Tiri of ATKMB. The introduction of Jorge Ortiz and Brandon Fernandes for Goa changed the match.
Goa started to play more passes in ATKMB’s defensive third. Ortiz came close in front of the goal in the 83rd minute but couldn’t capitalise. Two minutes later, Krishna earned a penalty with his individual brilliance and scored the spot-kick earning the all-important three points.
Goa came close in the late stage of the stoppage time after a Savior Gama’s shot was blocked by ATKMB’s keeper Arindam Bhattacharjee and an Edu Bedia header went past the ATKMB goal in the last minute.
ATKMB played better, they stopped Goa’s free flow football by sheer homework and practice. Goa on the other hand will consider themselves unlucky for a penalty decision that went against them in the second half and the misses in the last minute. A thrilling match came to end with the more tactical team winning the contest.
