A ten-man NorthEast United FC held on to earn a point against Jamshedpur FC in Guwahati and move to the top of the Indian Super League table on Thursday.
Bartholomew Ogbeche scored early in the first half for NorthEast while Farukh Choudhary scored for the away side in the second period.
The brutal contest was filled with fouls and cards galore and NorthEast defender Mislav Komorski was deservedly sent off at the stroke of half-time for a dangerous elbow on Jamshedpur midfielder Carlos Calvo.
Jamshedpur made full use of their numerical advantage in the second half, pulling things level through a thumping volley from Choudhary. The away side pegged NorthEast back through the length of the second half but were unable to create clear-cut opportunities to take the lead after that.
The determined home side held their shape and goalkeeper Pawan Kumar was a calm presence between the sticks. There was little to chose from in the early exchanges, though, as game was locked in a midfield battle. The link-up play between forwards Federico Gallego and Ogbeche ruffled Tiri and Co.
The Highlanders took the lead in the 19th minute with the Nigerian topping the goalscoring charts with his fifth goal. Ogbeche’s slick first-touch and finish caught Jamshedpur by surprise.
Drama unfolded in the dying minutes of the first half. Redeem Tlang’s shot in stoppage time was acrobatically saved by Subrata Paul. Jamshedpur were away in a flash on the counter-attack and Komorski became the second player to be sent off this season. NorthEast could have had another man sent off after Redeem flew in with a two-footed tackle on substitute Michael Soosairaj in the second half.
With the game meandering towards the 70th minute mark, Tim Cahill was finally brought on as Ferrando went for the kill. The visitors put bodies forward in numbers with balls being launched into the box constantly but the cutting edge was missing.
NorthEast’s deep defensive line, ultimately, did the job. Jamshedpur’s best chance came in the 89th minute of the game when Mario Arques unleashed a shot that took a deflection of Gurwinder. Pawan Kumar, on that occasion, was rooted to the spot.