Blues snatch a late draw from the Shivajians

by Chittu Shetty February 5, 2017

A late revival saw defending champions come from two goals down to snatch a draw away from the Pune outfit

The day started for DSK Shivajians  with a big boost in the form of returning Goal Keeper Subrata Paul, who came back from injury to start between the stick. Implementing a 4-5-1 formation DSK Gaffer went for Pace in the wings looking to exploit the thin Blues defence which had been hit by series of injuries and poor performances.

With Sandesh Jhingan out injured and John Johnson left out as a result of suspension in the previous I league game against Churchill brothers Blues gaffer Roca went for Salam Ranjan and Keegan Pereira at the defence with L Ralte and Nishu sitting out in a 4-3-3 formation.

The Pune outfit began with a dominant display right from the start pegging back the defending champions in to their own box most of the time. Blues custodian Amrinder Singh was called into action very early in the game when Passi’s low cross into the box was met by an onrushing Narzary. Minute later another attempted cross this time from Quero, came off the cross bar as Bengaluru defence completely looked out of sorts.

In the 27^th minute, Quero took a shot from a distance that just looped over goal while at the other end Eugeneson almost put the visitors ahead after being brilliantly setup by Vineeth.

At the half hour mark, another of the many Quero attempt came off the Post with Amrinder out of position as Blues survived the scare. However DSK Shivajians relentless pressure on Blues defence finally gave in a fruitful result, In the 41^st minute Narzary taking advantage of a Keegan-Juanan mix-up ran ahead of them with the ball before slotting it past an onrushing Amrinder to make it 1-0.

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Ten minutes after the break, Narzary slotted in another goal to make it 2-0. An over the top through ball from Milan Singh saw Narzary run clear on goal as he slotted the ball calmly through the legs of Amrinder.

Minutes after the hour mark, Shivajians almost made it 3-0 when a low cross from the left saw Kim Seong Yong go for the ball with speed however the looped ball in the air was somehow challenged for by Amrinder, earning a free-kick for being impeded.

Looking at their third league defeat and fourth overall, Blues coach brought in a slew of changes as Alwyn George and Daniel replaced Eugeneson and Udanta to spark some pace at their attacking third. With game entering its last fifteen minutes, Captain Chhetri pulled one back for the visitors to make it his third goal in as many games. Lurking around the left of the box Chhetri did well to control a long ball from the middle before smartly sending the ball past an onrushing Paul to make it 2-1.

The goal brought the blues back in to the life as they began controlling the game more often looking for the that elusive equaliser while coming close to it number of times. Finally in the 90^th minute Chhetri did well inside the box before cutting it for strikers however the ball was deflected off for corner. The Resulting corner saw Salam Ranjan Singh rise the highest to head the ball into the box to send the travelling blues fans into frenzy.

Minutes before full time, Bengaluru almost punished the home side for carelessness when Lenny Rodriguez’ shot rebounded off the post before Chhetri’s snap shot was deflected away from a certain goal for the Blues. The entertaining game ended at 2-2 as both sides came away with a point.

DSK Shivajians 2 (Narzary 41’,55’) – 2 Bengaluru FC (Chhetri 74’, S Singh 90+1’)