Bengaluru is back on the winning track after a comfortable 3-1 victory against Odisha
The Blues from Bengaluru have finally found winning ways after completing the season’s first consecutive triumph with a 3-1 win over Odisha at their fortress Sree Kanteerava Stadium.
The Karnataka-based outfit registered a comfortable triumph at home with the help of strikes from Rohit Kumar (25′), Roy Krishna (28′) and Pablo Perez (90+2′). Meanwhile, the Brazilian striker Diego Mauricio was the only goalscorer from the Kalinga Warriors’ camp in Gameweek 15 of the 2022-23 Indian Super League.
The Blues gaffer Simon Grayson wanted to continue forward the winning momentum that they got after their most recent win over NorthEast United and went on to make only a single change in the Starting Eleven. The star Indian central defender Sandesh Jhingan replaced the Australian Alexandar Jovanovic who could not even make it to the matchday squad of the Blues.
On the other hand, the Bhubaneswar-based club went on to name an unchanged lineup as they were also keen on extending their recent bull run. As the Odisha head coach Josep Gombau once again kept high-profile names like Victor Rodriguez, Pedro Martin and Shubham Sarangi on the substitute bench.
The intense contest commenced in the evening glaze with the home team taking the first kick of the match in traditional blue kits against the visitors donning away white colors. We witnessed a slow-paced playstyle in the initial minutes as both sides wanted to play according to the conditions and also attempted multiple long-ranging shots.
After declining the early attacks from the visitors, the Blues staged a formative counter-attack which resulted in the opening goal of the game.
Javi Hernandez’s penalty corner from the right flank was turned down by the opposition goalie Amrinder Singh however the Punjabi guardian could not save it for the second time. Rohit Kumar who netted his first goal in the blue colors brought his side to the leading position in the 25th minute of the game.
Roy Krishna is back on the scoresheet after three months
The early goal released shock waves in the visitors’ camp and the BFC went on to capitalize on it after doubling their lead just three minutes later. This was the high-profile striker Roy Krishna who joined the goal-scoring party to bring it to 2-0 in the 28th minute. Sivashakthi Narayanan who replaced the legendary Sunil Chhetri in the lineup registered his second goal contribution of the previous two games with a marvellous assist to Krishna.
The Juggernauts resumed the action after the half-time break with a fresh approach by bringing Victor Rodriguez and Sahil Panwar onto the battlefield. A 50th-minute foul by the Bengaluru goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu inside the box resulted in referee Senthil Nathan awarding the Kalinga Warriors with a penalty strike. The 31-year-old Mauricio who attracted the penalty went on to take the direct shot and made no mistake in curtailing the scoreline deficit.
The battle was fought hard till the last minute as the Odisha gaffer kept knitting moves in search of the awaited equalizing goal. The Eastern Dragons’ contention for a point was dusted when the Blues once again gained a two-goal lead to demolish the comeback hopes of away fans.
A defensive error from Jerry Mawihmingthanga while clearing the ball handed a golden opportunity to the Spaniard Pablo Perez and the super-sub took no time to turn it into a memorable cameo appearance.
Simon Grayson’s tactics of heavily relying on counter-attacks turned out to be the masterstroke as his boys clinched all three points with a two-goal difference despite having only 38% ball possession. The visitors statistically dominated them in the various aspects of the game, moreover also attempted 11 shots but managed to keep only two of them on target which indicated a lack of clinical finishes.
The Juggernauts have another away game scheduled in their ISL fixtures as they will be travelling to the City of Joy to take the heavyweights ATK Mohun Bagan which will also be their final game of January. The defending ISL Premiere champions Jamshedpur are waiting for the Blues at The Furnace to anticipate their plan of completing a hat-trick of wins.