At the end of the first half of the game, it seemed as though fortune was smiling brightly at Jamshedpur FC. Marcelinho was troubling the opposition defence, but couldn’t find a way past goalkeeper Subrata Paul.
With seconds to go for the half-time whistle, a glorious opportunity presented itself for the Pune outfit. The ball fell kindly to Emiliano Alfaro off a deflection.
Paul was off his line and the Uruguayan striker had the entire goal staring at him. Having all the time in the world to level scores, all he needed to do was to compose himself and tuck the ball home. Then came one of the game’s best moments: Yumnam Raju, putting his body on the line, thwarted Alfaro’s shot with a goal-line clearance. At the time, a point, leave alone a come-from-behind win, looked like a distant dream for Ranko Popovic’s side.
Popovic earns his money
It certainly looked like it was not Pune’s day. Going behind, chances going begging, confidence levels dropping – in previous seasons, this was recipe for a familiar Pune collapse. In each of the last three seasons, Pune have got off to good starts, only for their form to taper off in the business end of the league, and subsequently miss out on a top-four spot.
Pune created little in the final third in the first half and Ranko Popovic knew that he had to shake things up to force a way into the game. Jamshedpur were winning the midfield battle. The away side were also creating openings from the flanks.
In came Marco Stankovic and Sarthak Golui in the second half. Pune’s attack suddenly came to life and it was the Austrian who was pulling the strings. Alfaro and Marcelino, who lacked the cutting-edge in the final third, suddenly showed more bite upfront.
It was a scrappy effort that produced the leveller, though. Jamshedpur’s vigour and threat from the flanks, which was impressive in the first half, had now tapered off.
Gurtej Singh nodded the ball home from a corner – a scrappy effort that came in the 62nd minute but it was the opening the Stallions needed to stamp their authority in the contest.
Three minutes later, Alfaro found the winner.
Markovic, playing deep in midfield, was at the thick of much of the action, pinging long passes over the Jamshedpur backline and to the wingers. The ISL newcomers, who have been parsimonious in defence so far in the season, were rattled, and failed to cope with the pace and trickery of Marcelino.
Thy shall not pass
The fiery contest was locked in a midfield battle for much of the first half. It was not until the first goal that both teams showed a semblance of adventure. With both teams playing a 4-4-2, the forwards had a role to play without the ball. Izu Azuka stuck to his task for Jamshedpur while Marcelinho was dropping deep to help out his midfield.
The play bogged down with both teams showing a penchant for scything down opponents. Jameshedpur in particular, were reckless with some of their challenges. Steve Coppell had quite a task on his hands at the end of the first 45 with three of his players being cautioned.
Till the opening goal of the game arrived, there were tackles flying in from all directions. The play was attritional and there were very few openings.
It was not until the opening goal of the game – which came at the half-hour mark – that both sets of players seemed interested in taking the game to the opposition. The passing also left a lot to be desired. Pune and Jamshedpur, at the time, lacked a midfielder who could bypass the defence and ping passes to the flanks and the forwards. Jameshedpur earned the advantage through their powerful runners.
Jamshedpur – the good, bad, and ugly
As mentioned earlier, the team’s indicipline resulted in some forced changes in the second half for Coppell. Jamshedpur, though, were marginally the better side in the first half. They took the lead in the game after Wellington Priori capitalised on Vishal Kaith’s howler.
They had two other glorious opportunities. In the first half, they had the chance to go 2-0 up. Trindade had made a powerful run down the right flank and his delivery into the box was first-rate. The low cross, which was met by Azuka, went narrowly wide despite the Nigerian’s clever backheel seemed enough at first look. With three of their players going in the book in the first half, Jamshedpur were forced to take a more gingerly approach in the second half, and were unable to cope with Pune’s attacking wave.
Pune had controlled much of the second period but Jameshedpur rallied late in the game. Substitute Sameehg Doutie was culpable of inexplicably failing to get the final touch from a superb cross. Alas, it was quite fitting that the game ended in almost identical fashion to how it did in the first half. Azuka’s well-drilled shot looked destined to hand his side a late equaliser but Adil Khan did what Raju had pulled off earlier – a stunning goal-line clearance.
