Jamshedpur FC could not capitalise on the early lead and lost 1-3 to Bengaluru FC in the Hero Indian Super League 2021-22 at the Athletic Stadium in Bambolim, Goa on Saturday evening..
Daniel Chima Chukwu had given the Men of Steel the lead inside the first minute but Bengaluru made a solid comeback in the second-half, Cleiton Silva (62nd, 90th) scoring twice on either side of Sunil Chhetri's equaliser in the 55th minute.
Jamshedpur's defence (especially in the second-half) left much to desired. The club's defence looked totally off colour and the lapses cost Owen Coyle-coached side dear.
Chhetri scored his 49th goal, equalling Hyderabad FC's Bart Ogbeche who became the all-time highest scorer of the Hero ISL the other day with 49 strikes as Bengaluru stretched their unbeaten run to eight games. Bengaluru now have 23 points from 15 games, same as Kerala Blasters who are second due to better goal difference. Hyderabad FC top the table with 26 points from 14 matches.
Jamshedpur dropped to fourth with the loss with 22 points from 13 matches. The Red Miners were in the ascendancy in the very first minute of the game, Chima getting on the scoresheet for the second consecutive game since joining Jamshedpur.
Alexandre Lima carried the ball through the heart of the pitch and passed to Boris Singh who lay it up for Chima who got in between Alan Costa and Roshan Naorem to first trap the ball and then fire it into the roof of the net.
Pegged back so early on, Bengaluru tried hard to equalise but Jamshedpur, missing the services of skipper Peter Hartley due to suspension, sat back and defended well as a unit. Bengaluru came out strongly in the second-half and Chhetri scored from inside the box after a long throw from Parag Shrivas.
In the next seven minutes, Bengaluru doubled their lead. The hard-working Naorem swung in a superb corner for Silva to nod in past an outstretched Jitendra Singh and into the back of the net. Bengaluru were all over Jamshedpur after taking the lead.
Silva doubled his tally in injury time, making the most of Narender Gahlot's botched clearance from a throw-in to beat a defender and fire into the far post from a tight angle.
"Well, I'm not sure they deserve the win. But they took the chances. I actually think TP Rehenesh was saving the game for us. And it's self-inflicted, I mean, a long throw we should deal with, then a goal from a corner in the back and third one is obviously a horrendous individual mistake. We had some wonderful chances, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu made some great saves. Ultimately, we never took a chance and Bengaluru FC did. We certainly deserved something from the match. But that's the margins in the ISL. We certainly didn't deserve to lose the game," said Jamshedpur FC head coach Owen Coyle. that's for sure.
He added Jamshedpur was coming off back-to-back three wins . "So we've been doing very well. We were in our rooms for 15-16 days and didn't do much training. Obviously, a few players were missing tonight due to injuries. But the first-half was wonderful and scored a great goal. We could have added to that later. And in the second-half, we had some great chances as well. So that's the nature of this league. We'll take a punch in the nose, and we'll look to bounce back very quickly."