A penalty from Trindade Goncalves was enough to hand Jamshedpur FC an important 1-0 win over ATK in their Indian Super League (ISL) clash here at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Kriranga last evening.
Jamshedpur FC are now locked on 19 points with fourth-placed FC Goa on the ISL points table. With just 12 points from 12 matches, twice champions ATK are now staring at an early exit from the ISL.
After a lacklustre first half which saw both teams unable to create chances going forward, the game burst to life after the restart. Just three minutes into the second half, Jerry Mawihmingthanga found Trindade in the box after some neat play down the right wing but the Brazilian's shot struck the post.
Two minutes later, Jamshedpur had a big penalty shout after ATK centre back Jordi Figueras brought down Trindade inside the box. The referee, however, saw nothing wrong and let the game go on. Jamshedpur FC and Trindade, however, kept knocking on ATK's door.
The Brazilian again came close to breaking the deadlock in the 56th minute after Izu Azuka's cross found him unmarked in the box with the goal gaping at his mercy. Trindade, however, fluffed his line guiding the ball wide of the post.
Despite having missed a few opportunities to take the lead, the visitors kept the pressure on ATK who had very little going forward. Jamshedpur took the much-deserved lead in the 66th minute. Trindade made up for the missed chance earlier by winning a penalty and then slotting it past ATK goalkeeper Debjit Majumder from the spot.
Even after going a goal down, there wasn't much improvement in ATK going forward. At the other end, Jamshedpur were making Debjit work hard under the ATK crossbar. With ten minutes to go for full time, Jamshedpur made a tactical change to hold on to what they had. Izu Azuka was taken off to make way for Andre Bikey.
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In the 85th minute, Kevin Belfort, who replaced goal scorer Trindade, had a great opportunity to seal the tie. Belfort found himself clear on goal but was unable to get the better of Debjit.
However, as it turned out, the miss didn't matter as Trindade's penalty was enough to hand Jamshedpur FC all three points.