Cleiton Silva’s brace helps Bengaluru trump Jamshedpur 3-1
Bengaluru produced a splendid second-half show to trump Jamshedpur 3-1 in ‘Match 82’ of the 2021-22 Indian Super League season.
The Red Miners had a dream start as new signing Daniel Chima Chukwu scored one of the fastest goals of the competition only to see the Blues take the three points courtesy of a brace from Cleiton Silva and a goal from Sunil Chhetri.
Jamshedpur head coach Owen Coyle made a single change as he brought on Brazilian central defender Eli Sabia to replace the suspended Peter Hartey. On the other hand, the Blues’ head coach Marco Pezzaiouli made a couple of changes. Defender Alan Costa was back in action and replaced Wungngayam Muirang in the starting XI, while Cleiton Silva took up Prince Ibara’s place upfront.
Chukwu had a fantastic opening minute as he handed Jamshedpur an early lead. From the midfield, Alex Lima played a pass for Boris Singh on the left, who then tried to find Chukwu. The Nigerian utilized his physical prowess to outmuscle Costa before placing his shot past Gurpreet Singh Sandhu in the Bengaluru goal.
Coyle’s team could have doubled their lead soon afterwards when Greg Stewart found Boris in space with a precise pass. The young winger once again made a darting run and tried to find Chima, but having learned from their previous mistake, the Bengaluru defenders did well to clear the delivery this time around.
The Blues’ best chance of the first half came in the 42nd minute when Roshan Naorem delivered a sensational corner with Sunil Chhetri being the intended target, but the skipper failed to keep his header on target.
Pezzaiouli tried injecting fresh legs in the second half as he brought on Rohit Kumar to add stability to the midfield, but Jamshedpur controlled the tempo of the game and almost doubled their lead in the 51st minute.
Stewart combined with Lima before going for glory, but his bullet of a shot was blocked by Costa. Chima tried capitalizing on the second ball but before he could get to it, an alert Parag Shrivas averted the danger by clearing it off to safety.
It turned out to be a costly miss as the Blues restored parity only four minutes later through Sunil Chhetri, who scored his 49th goal in ISL history and is now the joint-highest goal-scorer of this competition alongside Bartholomew Ogbeche. A long throw from Parag was not properly dealt with by the Red Miners and the ball eventually fell to Bruno Ramires, who had no idea about it but stuck a leg out, which deflected the ball towards Chhetri’s path. The 37-year-old calmly slotted it past TP Rehenesh in the Jamshedpur goal.
Having restored parity, the Blues then took full control of the match and got in the lead in the 62nd minute. Roshan’s inswinging delivery from the corner found Silva, who found the back of the net with an accurate header.
Bruno could have had his second assist seven minutes later when he went on a run down the middle before cutting a pass back for Chhetri. The veteran striker played it towards Cleiton who then tried threading a pass for Udanta Singh, but a tackle from Ricky Lallawmawma helped Jamshedpur stay in the game.
Parag Shrivas’ goalline clearance preserved Bengaluru’s lead
Coyle’s men came agonizingly close to an equalizer in the 80th minute when Stewart found himself through on goal. The former Rangers player lifted the ball over an onrushing Gurpreet and the ball was headed towards the net, but Parag came up with an outstretched goalline clearance to maintain his team’s lead.
Yet again, Jamshedpur’s miss proved costly Silva netted his second right at the stroke of full time. Narender Gahlot failed to clear a simple throw and the ball landed kindly for Cleiton, who beat his marker before launching his shot past Rehenesh.
With this win, Bengaluru has climbed to the third position in the standings and will now take on Hyderabad on Friday, while the fourth-placed Jamshedpur will be up against Kerala Blasters on Thursday.