Bengaluru, March 18 (IANS) SC Bengaluru withstood a final half-hour barrage to win 3-2 against Real Kashmir FC at the Bangalore Football Stadium on Tuesday after defender Sanatomba Singh was sent off in the 60th minute.
The two teams were tied 2-2 at half-time.
Thomya Shimray (5’) opened the scoring for the hosts, but Gnohere Krizo (12’ p, 32’) put Real Kashmir ahead with two goals. Shravan Shetty (36’) drew SC Bengaluru level before Faslurahman Methukayil (48’) scored the winner after the restart.
The win sees SC Bengaluru leapfrog Aizawl FC into 10th place with 20 points from 19 matches, and pushes them out of the relegation zone. Real Kashmir, meanwhile, stay third with 32 points from as many games.
The hosts surged to an early lead via a Thomyo Shimray goal in the fifth minute. The winger snuck in between the two centre-backs to slam in the rebound from close range after Mohd Arbaz had made a save off the initial attempt.
SC Bengaluru’s joy and the lead didn’t last too long though. Within seven minutes Real Kashmir had equalised, when the referee pointed to the spot for a foul in the box. Gnohere Krizo duly put his spot kick away to draw Real Kashmir level.
Kashmir capitalised on the momentum gained from the equaliser and controlled a lot of the ball over the next quarter of the game. Just after the half-hour mark, they were duly rewarded for their efforts, when Krizo gathered the ball on the left of the box, turned in the same motion, freeing himself of his marker before curling a shot into the far corner.
The topsy-turvy nature of the encounter meant that this wasn’t going to last either. Within four minutes SC Bengaluru had equalised. Mohd Arbaz’s weak flap at the corner saw the ball drop to the Bengaluru player in the six-yard box, whose bicycle kick was cleared off the line. Shravan Shetty slammed in the rebound.
Within minutes of the restart Bengaluru retook the lead, another defensive error proving Kashmir’s undoing. Attempting to head a long ball back into his goalkeeper’s arms, Kashmir’s Hyder Yousuf instead only put it into the path of Faslurahman Methukayil. The forward nipped in front of Arbaz and despite the tight angle directed his first-time volley to the far corner of the net.
Just as it seemed that Bengaluru had found their footing in the game though, disaster struck. A high tackle by Sanatomba Singh, on Yousuf saw the referee issue him a straight red card, reducing the hosts to 10 men for the final half hour of the game. Almost immediately, Kashmir looked to have hit back, when Elhadji Karim Samb connected with a cross from the right, only to see his effort bounce off the upright.
Bengaluru adjusted their shape and their strategy, putting more bodies behind the ball and almost exclusively playing to defend their lead. Kashmir played their attacking part to perfection, albeit failing only to add a third to their tally. They threw the kitchen sink at the hosts but failed to get the crucial breakthrough, giving Bengaluru a vital win in their battle for survival.
–IANS
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