Bengaluru: A Sunil Chhetri stunner in the 39th minute secured a close 1-0 win for Bengaluru FC over defending champions ATK at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Sunday.
The narrow victory margin was sufficient to send ‘The Blues’ back to the top position with 18 points, one ahead of second placed Chennaiyin FC after nine round of matches. ATK meanwhile continue to languish at the seventh position with just nine points having played a game lesser.
Fresh from their 3-1 thrashing of Kerala Blasters, it was the home side who Bagan well, flooding the ATK defence with repeated corners that amounted to four in the opening 20 minutes. Naming an unchanged line-up from their previous fixture it was the hosts who clearly dominated, with the visitors playing but only in flashes.
They had their first chance as early as the fourth minute but 39 minutes later they scored one, when Chhetri scored from a stunning shot that rifled into the net. Intercepting a ball from Connor Thomas the skipper created an inch of space before firing one that waved past Debjit Majumdar on goal. It was the Indian international’s fifth in the league this season.
Six minute before, Rahul Bheke had come close but failed to tap-in after Edu Garcia’s free-kick off a Eric Paartalu’s head had rattled the bar.
ATK on the other failed to create any chances against a compact Bengaluru defence and although they came close on quite a few occasions with Robbie Keane at the centre of most chances, nothing materialised as things seems to get much more difficult for the reigning champions to resurrect their season.
Ryan Taylor’s entrance early into the second-half seemed a good move after Zequinha spent an entire-half chasing the ball, failing to create any proper chance. ATK’s saviour on the last two occasions, Keane had the opportunity to score twice in two quick successions, but while his first shot drew a fine save from Bengaluru custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, his second went just inches over the bar.
Debjit Majumdar on the counter was kept busy all through the evening by a sharper Bengaluru FC who kept on piling up shots at the other hand.
Substitue Braulio Nogreba could have doubled his side’s lead in the dying minutes but faltered both the chances as Chhetri’s strike made all the difference in the end as ‘The Blues’ extended their winning run to two games and take on the bottom placed Delhi Dynamos a week later.