English
Bambolim: Bengaluru FC get their season up and running as the 2018-19 ISL Champions beat NorthEast United by 4-2 at the GMC Athletic Stadium in Bambolim on Saturday.
Brazilian Cleiton Silva was on target for the Blues, followed by new signings Jayesh Rane and Prince Ibarra. Mashoor Shereef put it past his own goal, while former BFC man Deshorn Brown and Martinquais international Mathias Courear fought back for NorthEast United in a losing cause.
Deshorn Brown almost provided the opener of the night with an acrobatic attempt in the very first minute. NorthEast United looked dominant in the opening exchanges but the game opened up right around the quarter-hour mark.
An entertaining 11 minutes ensued with four goals, two at either end. First up, Brazilian target man Silva made most of Udanta Singh’s build-up play, to leave NorthEast defenders high and dry with a fine goal.
Three minutes later, Brown was to have his say in the game. VP Suhair, on the left flank, brilliantly found Brown who, with a controlled first touch, smashed into the net to draw level.
NorthEast then shot themselves in the foot. Ashique Kuruniyan lobbed the ball in from range and it rebounded off the crossbar and came back into play. Mashoor Shereef, instead of clearing it, scored an own goal.
On the other end, new signing Mathias Coureur made amends for his teammate. Suhair yet again set up the move for Coureur to slot it in on the second time of asking, equalising for the second time in the night.
Sunil Chhetri, desperate to get into the act, squandered a chance but it was Jayesh Rane right before half-time who drove down a left-footer to bring up the fifth goal of the game.
NorthEast looked visibly second-best after the break. Chhetri missed an easy chance before Sehnaj Singh was brought in by Khalid Jamil, who looked to the bench for experience.
The game descended into a tactical battle with multiple substitutions from both sides, hampering the flow of the match later on.
There was one bit left, where Alan Costa’s long ball found Prince Ibarra, who cut in and finished with style.
Bengaluru managed to hold on to the lead to secure all three points.
(With Inputs From PTI)
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