Another week of scintillating Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2018-19 action just concluded, slowly leading into the business end of the season. The recent set of fixtures, which also included two South Indian derbies, had some brilliant football on offer, sprinkled with some major surprises. Here are all the results and highlights from the week gone by: 

Match 70: Bengaluru FC 2-2 Kerala Blasters FC (Match Report)

Match 71: NorthEast United FC 1-1 Delhi Dynamos FC (Match Report)

Match 72: Jamshedpur FC 1-0 Mumbai City FC (Match Report)

Match 73: Chennaiyin FC 2-1 Bengaluru FC (Match Report)

Match 74: FC Pune City 2-2 ATK (Match Report) 

Bengaluru falter in South Indian Derbies 

After their first defeat of the season against Mumbai last month, Bengaluru seemed to have gotten back to winning ways with a 2-1 win over NorthEast. With just a win away from sealing a play-off spot and two South Indian Derbies against Kerala and Chennaiyin scheduled, Carles Cuadrat’s men were confident and were tipped to make their progression to the semi-finals official. However, things didn't quite go as planned for the current Hero ISL table toppers as they narrowly avoided defeat against Kerala and slumped to a 2-1 defeat against bottom-placed Chennaiyin. The Blues fell two goals behind in both the matches. A valiant second-half performance saw them walk away with a draw, but they couldn't repeat the feat against Chennaiyin. 

Jeje sets a new record 

Chennaiyin's top scorer Jeje Lalpekhlua found the net against Bengaluru on Saturday, finally managing to break his duck this season. The goal will be a welcome change for the Mizo Sniper, who last scored for Chennaiyin over 300 days back. However, the goal also handed the 28-year-old striker the unique honour of becoming the only player in history to have scored in all the five editions of Hero ISL. 

Intensifying top four race

As we near the end of the league campaign, the race for the play-off spots is getting closer by the day. With six teams still in contention, there really is no saying who can make it across the finish line. NorthEast failed to make use of their opportunity to overtake Goa as they could only manage a draw against Delhi. Jamshepdur, on the other hand, picked up a crucial victory over Mumbai to blow the race wide open. With 21 points on board, ATK are also in with a shout of making the final four, come March 3.  Who do you think will come out on top?

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2018-2019