Jameshedpur FC snapped their losing streak with a thumping 5-0 win against hosts Hyderabad FC in the 2023-24 Indian Super League on Thursday. Nigerian Daniel Chima Chukwu scored his first-ever ISL hat-trick to power the Red Miners to only their second win in 11 matches this season.
Jamshedpur FC head coach Scott Cooper had sounded a stern warning to his team after their 1-0 defeat in the previous game against Bengaluru FC. He questioned their desire and had mentioned that some of the players should be concerned of their place in the club with the January transfer window coming up. The reaction was a trigger to extract a response from the players, who were consistently falling short of positive results despite having some good footballers in their ranks.
Chukwu put his hand up and spearheaded this comeback for the visitors, heading in a cross by Imran Khan from the left flank in just the second minute of the match to get Jamshedpur FC an early lead.
That set the tone for the game, livening up the Jamshedpur FC frontline with every forward covering each blade of the grass to run circles around the Hyderabad FC backline.
In the 20th minute of the match, Jamshedpur doubled their lead as Chukwu found the net for the second time with a screamer.
Nikhil Barla’s left-footed cross sailed over all the Jamshedpur FC attackers, for Nikhil Poojary to head it out of danger. Jeremy Monzorro reached the rebound first and headed it back towards the box where Chukwu, standing just outside the box, controlled on his chest before playing an overhead kick that flew into the top corner.
The nature of the goal, more than the strike itself, got Jamshedpur FC going to put in a relentless effort leaving no room of hope for Hyderabad FC to claw back in the proceedings.
However, their approach did slightly cool up after the half-time break and Cooper perhaps felt the need to reignite the spirits with some fresh legs in the attacking unit.
Seiminlen Doungel replaced Mohammed Sanan and the attacker made an immediate impact, aiming for the back of the net from outside of the box and successfully rounding off the endeavour by adding the third goal in their tally in the 70th minute.
It was Chukwu’s night of reckoning though, as the forward capped off the match by bringing up his hat-trick in the 79th minute. This one was a fairly straightforward effort, as the Nigerian pounced on an arguably listless Hyderabad FC backline and converted an opportunity set up for him by Barla.
That was preceded by Jonathan Moya scoring an own goal from a corner that Jamshedpur FC had earned moments after Doungel’s goal, as the Red Miners brought curtains down on a five-star performance to bag their second victory of the season.
