Here are the games this week, with their reports below (latest match first):
5 Mar: East Bengal vs FC Goa (5 PM)
6 Mar: Odisha FC vs Mohun Bagan SG (5 PM) and Jamshedpur FC vs Inter Kashi (7.30 PM)
7 Mar: Mohammedan SC vs Bengaluru FC (5 PM) and Kerala Blasters vs Chennaiyin (7.30 PM)
8 Mar: Mumbai City vs SC Delhi (7.30 PM)
9 Mar: Punjab FC vs NorthEast United (7.30 PM)
Punjab FC 1-1 NorthEast United
(Nsungusi Effiong 63′ – Parthib Gogoi 60′)
NorthEast United held Punjab FC to a 1-1 draw in the ISL’s first game in Delhi this season, as the hosts’ unbeaten start to the season continued, whereas it is now three draws in three for NorthEast United.
Parthib Gogoi gave NorthEast the lead in the 60th minute, after good hold-up play from Lalrinzuala Lalbiaknia. However, that lead didn’t last long.
Punjab’s striker Nsungusi Effiong, who scored twice against Bengaluru FC last week, was in the scoresheet again, as he equalised three minutes later. It was a tight game throughout, but Punjab thought they’d won it at the end, through Samir Zeljkovic. However, the linesman’s flag cut short those celebrations.
Mumbai City FC 2 – 2 Sporting Club Delhi
(Jorge Pereyra Diaz 3′, PN Noufal 17′ – Manoj Mohammed 45+3, Matija Babovic 73′)
Sporting Club Delhi earned their first points of the ISL season after pulling off a superb comeback from two-goals down to equalize in the second half away to Mumbai City FC. The result left Mumbai’s title hopes in tatters as they fell to fourth in the table after two draws, while Delhi rose to twelfth in the table.
Mumbai had the lead in the third minute itself, with Jorge Pereyra Diaz opening the scoring. Akash Mishra sent a long throw right into the mixer, and it bounced through multiple bodies into the far post, where Diaz was on hand to run in and head the ball home. The hosts doubled their lead in the seventeenth minute, with PN Noufal running onto a pass from Brandon Fernandes and curling a shot straight to the top corner. The left-winger was Mumbai’s most involved player, causing Delhi plenty of problems. Mumbai looked to be easing to a 2-0 lead at the break, but gifted their opponents a way back in first-half injury time.
Phurba Lachenpa made a mess of a free-kick into the box, palming it to Rafael Ribiero, and he laid it off to Manoj Mohammed at the edge of the box, and he hammered a left-footed piledriver into the bottom corner to make grab a goal back for Delhi.
Mumbai receded after the break, with Delhi coming into the game and having more of a threat without creating some clear cut chances. Mumbai were made to pay in the 73rd minute, as Matija Babovic scored the equalizer. Manoj hammered a low drive from the left wing, that ricocheted off a defender’s foot into Babovic’s path. The Serbian sidestepped multiple Mumbai defenders in the box with brilliant quick feet before side footing a low finish across Lachenpa into the opposite bottom corner.
Mumbai huffed and puffed but could not score a late winner, although Delhi nearly pulled off an improbable win in injury time, as Devendra Murgaokar headed wide with the goal at his mercy, but the final whistle blew with the score at 2-2.
Kerala Blasters FC 0 – 1 Chennaiyin FC
(Imran Khan 42′)
Imran Khan’s first half strike against Kerala Blasters ensured Chennaiyin FC secure their first win of the season at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Saturday.
Chennaiyin took the lead three minutes before half-time — Alberto Noguera slipped a pass into the winger’s path, and Imran attempted to curl his effort into the far corner. The shot, however, took a heavy deflection off Hormipam and found the bottom corner beyond the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Arsh Anwer Shaikh into the net.
Kerala Blasters displayed greater attacking intent in the second half, however they couldn’t take their chances. Chennaiyin held firm to protect their slender lead and take the win.
Mohammedan SC 1 – 2 Bengaluru FC
(Roy Mahitosh 51′, Ryan Williams 22′, Ashique Kuruniyan 41′)
Bengaluru FC are back to winning ways after goals from Ryan Williams and Ashique Kuruniyan secured victory over Mohammedan SC in their ISL match at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan stadium in Kolkata.
Bengaluru started the match well and opened the scoring. Siroj Kuziev delivered a fine corner, for Sunil Chhetri to flick it on off his head, and Ryan Williams reacting first to score his first goal of the season from close-range in the 22nd minute. BFC did not let their foot off the gas, and almost 20 minutes later Ashique Kuruniyan doubled the lead with a stunning long-range effort. Through dominance in possession, and creating better chances, Bengaluru FC headed into the break with a 2-0 lead at KBK.
The second-half began with a rejuvenated Mohammedan pulling one back as Mahitosh connected well with a volley to find the bottom corner past Gurpreet Singh Sandhu in the 51st minute. Despite Mohammedan’s multiple chances, BFC held on and secured their second win of the season.
Jamshedpur FC 1 – 0 Inter Kashi
(Eze 57′)
A Stephen Eze tap-in from a lovely Madih Talal freekick saw 10-man Jamshedpur eke past Inter Kashi to keep pace with Bagan and make it four wins in four.
The game started with both teams struggling to make inroads but a 19th minute red card for Vincy Baretto, given for high boot after he went leaping with his foot high looking to control a crossfield ball, titled the game in Inter Kashi’s favour. Jamshedpur sat further back, absorbed the pressure and looked to punch on the counter. On one of those, they won a freekick out on the left wing that Talal swung in for Eze to tap-in at the far post.
They created more chances – including when Messi Bouli ran onto a delightful through ball from Talal and hit the post after holding off the chasing Kashi centre-backs — but it was Kashi who peppered the home goal. They had 16 shots to Jamshedpur’s 10 but stoic defending meant they were of little concern to Albino Gomes in goal.
In fact, Jamshedpur pulled up 1.60 xG to Inter Kashi’s 0.94 xG
Mohun Bagan SG 5 – 1 Odisha FC
(Maclaren 14′, 24, 45’+2′, 88′, Rodriguez 42′; Ali 43′)
Jamie Maclaren scored a first half hattrick and then added a fourth of his own in the 88th minute as Sergio Lobera delivered a thumping victory against his previous employers. Alberto Rodriguez had a speculative long ranger go in too, while Rahim Ali capitalised on a rare Bagan defensive lapse to score a consolation — both those actions came in the first half too.
The league leaders dominated proceedings from the off, and it wasn’t longer before a lovely Subhasish Bose cross was nodded in from inside the six-yard box by Maclaren. The forward got his second when he worked himself into space just on the edge of the six-yard box to meet a low Liston Colaco cross first-time. Centre-back Rodriguez made it three when, given the opportunity to shoot from range as Odisha backed off, he let fly from range and saw his shot whistle past Amrinder and into the bottom of the far corner.
From kickoff after that goal, Odisha caught Bagan napping when Ali ran onto a long ball in behind the defence, rounded Vishal Kaith and tapped in to make it 3-1. Almost immediately, though, Colaco (excellent on the day) ran at Odisha and teed up Maclaren for another header from inside the six-yard box.
The game was done and dusted there, but Bagan kept pushing for a fifth… which finally came after a sequence of events that started with a Kaith one-on-one save on Ali and Bagan raced forward to set Maclaren free one-on-one with Amrinder, and the Bagan forward made no mistake.
East Bengal FC 0 – 0 FC Goa
FC Goa held off a high-flying East Bengal in a clash between third and fourth in the league at the Salt Lake. Goa started the first half well, creating a couple of good chances that took strong interventions from Anwar Ali and Prabsukhan Gill to deny but as the game wore on, East Bengal took almost complete control. They peppered the Goa rearguard from range, taking 20 shots (16 from outside the box) to Goa’s 6 (1 from outside the box) but apart from a Rashid shot that spilled through Hrithik Tiwari’s fingers and clanged onto the crossbar, they failed to trouble the visitors much.
The result means Mohun Bagan and Jamshedpur have a chance to pull away from these two teams when they play tomorrow vs Odisha and Inter Kashi.
