Roy Krishna’s strike sends ATK Mohun Bagan into the Semifinals
A fine strike from Roy Krishna orchestrated the ATK Mohun Bagan side to grab three crucial points against the traditional rivals and advance to the semifinals of the 2021-22 Indian Super League final. Chennaiyin fought well and gave hard times to the Mariners but couldn’t claim a single point from Match 105 at the Fatorda Stadium.
Spaniard Juan Ferrando made a couple of changes in the ATKMB lineup as the most awaited return of Roy Krishna finally occurred. He made a comeback to the Starting 11 in place of French attacking midfielder Hugo Boumous who was sidelined from the action due to an injury. While the youngster Deepak Tangri was brought back to the lineup for the clash against his former side.
On the other hand, made five changes in the lineup which was thrashed by Kerala Blasters in their previous fixture. Samik Mitra made his debut ISL appearance replacing Vishal Kaith at the goal line of the blue side.
Samik faced an enraged ATK Mohun Bagan attack aiming for the breach during the early minutes of his first day at work. Chennaiyin’s only highlight from that period was multiple long-range shots on target from Rahim Ali and Reagan Singh. Liston Colaco’s appeal for the penalty at the 35th minute on the clock was denied by Crystal John as Demjanovic’s attempt on the edge of the box was declared a valid tackle. The Mariner forward also received a warning from the referee for diving work to gain the advantage.
A three-minute injury time was added to the first half action and eventually, it decided the outing. ATK Mohun Bagan initiated a build-up from the back when only a few seconds were left for the first half whistle. Finnish midfielder Kauko released a through ball for Krishna who collected and fired it quickly on the net while saving himself from the Chennaiyin defender at the same time. Thus the Fijian striker made a comeback to the Starting 11 after a huge game of nine ATKMB fixtures and turned it into a memorable one.
The Machans kick-started the second half action in a rigorous way aiming for an equaliser. A magical long ball from Vladimir Koman landed exactly beneath the run of Valskis but the Lithuanian couldn’t convert the golden opportunity due to Amrinder’s front view blockage and a great display of defending from Sandesh Jhingan. The scoreline would have been different if the Colossal Sandesh didn’t turn himself up for the emergence.
‘The Bagan Wall’ has issued an alert for the next round
Another attempt for the equaliser from Chennaiyin was fribbled as fortunes were in favor of the men in green and maroon. A lightning shot from the boots of Reagan got deflected by Subhasish Bose and the ball banged on the goalpost but still couldn’t find the net.
Interim coach Syed Sabir Pasha’s approach was visible as the whole of Chennai’s offensive unit was trying hard to feed the ball to Valskis. Although the fox in the box looked off-colour throughout the game and the full-time whistle was blown on the same scoreline.
It was Chennaiyin’s last game of the season as they ended their 2021-22 campaign sitting in the eighth position with 20 points from 20 fixtures. This outing summed up their campaign as the two time ISL champions failed to qualify for the Semifinal stage in consecutive seasons. Coincidentally, the Marina Machans finished the 2020-21 season with the same amount of match-points and also in the same position in the league stage standings.
The Kolkata-based club’s whole defense deserves high praise but Tiri was the stand-out performer in Mariner’s 1-0 triumph. His marvellous performance consisted of 2 interceptions, 5 clearances and 102 touches with a whopping 90% of passing accuracy also earned him the ‘Hero of the Match’ award.
Even a single point from this clash was enough to ensure ATKMB’s semi-final qualification while a three-pointer overhaul has kept their hopes of winning the maiden ISL shield alive. They will be facing Jamshedpur FC in one-on-one combat up next as their last fixture of the league stage.