An injury time strike by Robin Singh helped 10 man Hyderabad FC salvage a draw against Bengaluru FC in a thrilling 2019-’20 Indian Super League tie at the GMC Balayogi Athletic Stadium in Hyderabad.
A second minute strike by Sunil Chhetri looked enough for Bengaluru to pick three points before Robin scored against his former side at the death
to help his side pick an important point.
Laldanmawia Ralte and Sahil Panwar were handed a start by Phil Brown as he made a couple of changes to their line-up from the defeat to Chennaiyin FC. Meanwhile, Cuadrat named an unchanged starting eleven from their 1-0 win over Kerala Blasters.
In less than two minutes, the visitors took the lead through Sunil Chhetri. Kamaljit Singh’s poor clearance found Ralte whose pass went straight into the path of Chhetri who made no mistake in slotting the ball home.
The defending champions saw more of the ball and continued to create openings as Hyderabad struggled to close down their opponents.
There was a penalty shout when Harmanjot Khabra’s cross from inside the box was allegedly handled by Gurtej Singh but the referee chose not to pay heed to it.
After the half hour mark, they could have doubled the lead from a corner. Dimas Delgado’s corner found Albert Serran however, the Spanish centre-back couldn’t sort his feet out inside the box.
After the break, Hyderabad had a chance from a set-piece however, Marcelinho’s attempt sailed over the bar.
The home side were reduced to 10 men with Sahil Panwar bringing down Udanta Singh in the 56th minute. This was after Udanta was through on goal after a brilliant run by Ashique Kuruniyan who evaded past a couple of defenders.
From the ensuing free-kick, Chhetri tried to sneak one under the wall but the ball fizzled out for Augusto inside the box. His attempt was just about kept out by Kamaljit, much to the relief of Phil Brown.
Marcelinho was booked for a dangerous lunge on Raphael soon after but was lucky to get away with just a yellow card.
In the 67th minute, Kamaljit came to Hyderabad’s rescue once again as he punched out Udanta’s cross with Kuruniyan lurking at the near post. He followed it up with another save to keep Kuruniyan’s attempt out after Chhetri did ever so well to find him inside the box.
Augusto, Chhetri and Udanta combined in the final third but neither of the trio could apply the finishing touch.
Brown threw Robin Singh into the mix in their search for an equalizer and the former Bengaluru striker didn’t disappoint. Marko Stankovic picked a pass for substitute Ashish Rai who pulled it back from the right for Robin to place it home.
