Pune City FC defeated defending champions Atletico de Kolkata 1-0 at the Balewadi Complex to dislodge them from the top of the ISL league table. Jackichand Singh’s early second-minute goal was enough to settle a contest between this season’s upstarts and the Kolkata giants.
Antonio Lopez Habas will have every reason to be disappointed as his Kolkata team never got out of second gear. This performance will have him worried and he will be hoping Atletico’s attacking unit can improve as the season kicks on. The silver lining for Habas will be that Kolkata are still in second place after a strong start to the season.
Pune City and David Platt will be smiling as they now have nine points after three wins from four games. Last season’s troubles seem to be a distant memory as the injection of fresh talent seems to have done the trick for Platt’s men. Nicky Shorey, Tuncay Sanli and Jackichand Singh have impressed for the new league leaders
Pune’s strong start
Atletico, with a 4-2-3-1 formation with Iain Hume up front, came into this game on top of the table and looked to extend their unbeaten run. However, they had never won a match against Pune City in their previous attempts. In the absence of marquee player Helder Postiga, they were looking at Javi Lara and Borja to provide the inspiration to turn that particular statistic around.
Pune City, lining up in a 4-3-3 formation, have looked better than last season with the new faces settling in faster than expected. The likes of Tuncay and Didier Zokora with tons of experience, both at the club and international level, have played a starring role so far. They too, looked to extend their good start to the season.
The game got off to a blistering start as 75 seconds into the game, Lenny Rodrigues crossed from the right wing and the ball made itself to Jackichand Singh at the far post via a deflection. The diminutive winger made no mistake as he calmly stroked the ball across Atletico keeper Juan Catalyud to give the home side an early lead.
Kolkata had their moments though. Iain Hume ran to the byline and delivered a superb cross for Arata Izumi, who fouled Dharamaraj Ravanan while going for the far-post header. Yendrick Ruiz then got the ball after a moment of confusion in the Kolkata box and passed it to Tuncay, who side footed it over the bar.
There was a moment of controversy when Sanli was brought down in the area by Borja, but the referee declined to award Pune a penalty.Jackichand Singh got on the end of another ball in the box after some superb work by Tuncay Sanli, only for him to head it straight at a Kolkata defender.
The final meaningful chance of the half fell to Eugeneson Lyngdoh, who took a shot on the volley, but was not able to control it and keep the ball down.
Poor second half
The second half almost started in a similar fashion to the first as a flick on by Sanli almost found Ruiz in the box to apply the finish. Habas then substituted Javi Lara for Jamie Gavilan in an attempt to get back into the match.
Pune continued attacking the Atletico goal when Roger Johnson pulled the ball back towards the danger zone with a header only for Sanli to sky the ball. Atletico were left exposed as Lyngdoh clipped a ball from Jairu wide off the post. Mohanraj Nallappan then tugged Bikash Jairu down in the 55th minute and earned himself a yellow card and a suspension for the next match.
Bikash Jairu kept hugging the touchline and running at full speed. He almost slipped a low cross in only to slip at the last moment. In one of ATK's rare attacks, Arata Izumi did receive the ball out wide, only to put in a terrible ball which landed nearer to the corner flag than the Pune goal.
Josemi received a yellow card in the 74th minute for a tug on Zokora. Kolkata’s best chance came when Iain Hume almost scored for Atletico when he struck a fierce drive towards Simonsen, only for the keeper to parry it away with his knees.
Sanli was then substituted in the 81st minute for Pune's marquee player Adrian Mutu. Mutu almost made the substitution count when he countered finding himself in space, only to unselfishly set it up for Ruiz, who could not get his shot away in time.
Pune were almost left worried at the end when Gourmangi and Maithani collided, leaving them both on the ground for some time. Although the second half showing was poor from both teams, Pune were the better side by a margin and had more shots on and off target.
Habas meanwhile will be wondering why his team was unable to fashion a single clear-cut opening and may decide to make sweeping changes for the next game against NorthEast United.
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Antonio Lopez Habas will have every reason to be disappointed as his Kolkata team never got out of second gear. This performance will have him worried and he will be hoping Atletico’s attacking unit can improve as the season kicks on. The silver lining for Habas will be that Kolkata are still in second place after a strong start to the season.
Pune City and David Platt will be smiling as they now have nine points after three wins from four games. Last season’s troubles seem to be a distant memory as the injection of fresh talent seems to have done the trick for Platt’s men. Nicky Shorey, Tuncay Sanli and Jackichand Singh have impressed for the new league leaders
Pune’s strong start
Atletico, with a 4-2-3-1 formation with Iain Hume up front, came into this game on top of the table and looked to extend their unbeaten run. However, they had never won a match against Pune City in their previous attempts. In the absence of marquee player Helder Postiga, they were looking at Javi Lara and Borja to provide the inspiration to turn that particular statistic around.
Pune City, lining up in a 4-3-3 formation, have looked better than last season with the new faces settling in faster than expected. The likes of Tuncay and Didier Zokora with tons of experience, both at the club and international level, have played a starring role so far. They too, looked to extend their good start to the season.
The game got off to a blistering start as 75 seconds into the game, Lenny Rodrigues crossed from the right wing and the ball made itself to Jackichand Singh at the far post via a deflection. The diminutive winger made no mistake as he calmly stroked the ball across Atletico keeper Juan Catalyud to give the home side an early lead.
Kolkata had their moments though. Iain Hume ran to the byline and delivered a superb cross for Arata Izumi, who fouled Dharamaraj Ravanan while going for the far-post header. Yendrick Ruiz then got the ball after a moment of confusion in the Kolkata box and passed it to Tuncay, who side footed it over the bar.
There was a moment of controversy when Sanli was brought down in the area by Borja, but the referee declined to award Pune a penalty.Jackichand Singh got on the end of another ball in the box after some superb work by Tuncay Sanli, only for him to head it straight at a Kolkata defender.
The final meaningful chance of the half fell to Eugeneson Lyngdoh, who took a shot on the volley, but was not able to control it and keep the ball down.
Poor second half
The second half almost started in a similar fashion to the first as a flick on by Sanli almost found Ruiz in the box to apply the finish. Habas then substituted Javi Lara for Jamie Gavilan in an attempt to get back into the match.
Pune continued attacking the Atletico goal when Roger Johnson pulled the ball back towards the danger zone with a header only for Sanli to sky the ball. Atletico were left exposed as Lyngdoh clipped a ball from Jairu wide off the post. Mohanraj Nallappan then tugged Bikash Jairu down in the 55th minute and earned himself a yellow card and a suspension for the next match.
Bikash Jairu kept hugging the touchline and running at full speed. He almost slipped a low cross in only to slip at the last moment. In one of ATK's rare attacks, Arata Izumi did receive the ball out wide, only to put in a terrible ball which landed nearer to the corner flag than the Pune goal.
Josemi received a yellow card in the 74th minute for a tug on Zokora. Kolkata’s best chance came when Iain Hume almost scored for Atletico when he struck a fierce drive towards Simonsen, only for the keeper to parry it away with his knees.
Sanli was then substituted in the 81st minute for Pune's marquee player Adrian Mutu. Mutu almost made the substitution count when he countered finding himself in space, only to unselfishly set it up for Ruiz, who could not get his shot away in time.
Pune were almost left worried at the end when Gourmangi and Maithani collided, leaving them both on the ground for some time. Although the second half showing was poor from both teams, Pune were the better side by a margin and had more shots on and off target.
Habas meanwhile will be wondering why his team was unable to fashion a single clear-cut opening and may decide to make sweeping changes for the next game against NorthEast United.
