ISL 3: Romaric’s strike keeps Highlanders in top 4 race

by Chittu Shetty November 23, 2016

A heavily charged game that saw a lot of tussle among players and staff alike ended with a Romaric’s beautifully curling free-kick turning the game for a Highlander win.

Northeast started with three changes as Vingada replaced the injured trio of Gustavo Lacazetti, Nirmal Chettri and Robin Gurung with Salam Singh, Shouvik Ghosh and Didier Zokora. For Pune, Habas decided to bring in Lenny for Eugneson Lyngdoh.

In a cautious affair, neither team enjoyed any clear cut chances as both looked to settle for a rhythm. Pune’s Ndoye was the only player who got a good chance at goal but could not beat goalkeeper Subrata Paul from a narrow angle. Jonathan Lucca also missed a good chance from just outside the box as the Pune midfielder missed the target with a wayward shot off his left-foot.

For NorthEast, there wasn’t much to talk about apart from a Katsumi Yusa’s attempt on goal which goalkeeper Edel Bete saved without much difficulty. The home side was unlucky in the dying moments of first half when a penalty in the stoppage time got ignored by the referee.

Also Read: ISL 3: Chennaiyin, ATK play out a 1-1 draw

Minutes before break, Sissoko literally manhandled Velez and the Malian was lucky not to have been given his marching orders. The tussle saw lot of pushing and unsportsmanlike behavior from both sides ending in with a slew of yellow cards for players involved.

Second half started with more attacking intent although there were very rare clear cut chances. Yusa had an effort from the edge of the box that came off Edel, much to the relief of the visitors. On the other side, in the 69th minute, Lenny Rodrigues’ fierce shot from 35 yards beat goalkeeper Paul but bounced off the crossbar.

Soon Pitu came in for Lucca and had an almost immediate impact when his well drilled shot was saved by Paul to keep highlanders still in the game. In the 81st minute, finally the big breakthrough came for the home side, when a free-Kick from few yards outside the box was beautifully curled in to far left corner by Romaric as Edel Bete failed to keep that one out.

Finally, despite a late onslaught at the home goal, the visitors were not able to breach the NorthEast defence as the game ended on 1-0 score in favour of the home side as they went past chennayin to be placed at sixth position. Pune on the other hand remained at the fourth postion.

NorthEast United FC 1 (Romaric 81’) – 0 FC Pune City