ATK Mohun Bagan moved to within a point of the summit of the 2020-21 Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) standings after a 2-0 win over Bengaluru FC at the Fatorda Stadium on Tuesday. Roy Krishna opened the scoring for the Mariners in the first half and Marcelo Pereira added a second just before the break.

  • Roy Krishna gave ATK Mohun Bagan the lead from the penalty spot in the 37th minute and Marcelo Pereira doubled their lead seven minutes later.
  • ATK Mohun Bagan could have scored more goals in the second half but Gurpreet Singh Sandhu made some good saves for Bengaluru.

ATK Mohun Bagan registered the first shot of the match on target in the 7th minute after a mazy run from near the halfway line by Marcelo culminated with the Brazilian testing the goalkeeper. Bengaluru’s goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was called into action again 11 minutes later when a Krishna shot from the edge of the box required the Indian custodian’s intervention.

Gurpreet, in fact, was undoubtedly the busier of the two goalkeepers in the first half and was forced into conceding a corner on the half-hour mark after a shot from distance by Carl McHugh seemed goal-bound. The Kolkata giants continued to knock on the door and eventually broke the deadlock in the 37th minute after Pratik Chaudhari fouled Krishna in the box.

After winning the penalty, the Fijian striker stepped up to the spot and struck the ball into the top right corner to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead. ATK Mohun Bagan then doubled their lead on the cusp of halftime after Marcelo curled a freekick from just outside the box into the back of the net to make it 2-0 for the Mariners at the break.

The second period witnessed the Kolkata giants continuing to maintain the pressure on Bengaluru and they nearly scored a third three minutes into the half when Sandesh Jhingan reacted quickest to get to a loose ball from a corner and smash it on target to force yet another save from Gurpreet.

The Mariners’ next chance came in the 59th minute after Krishna slid Manvir Singh in on goal only for the Indian attacker’s shot to be parried behind for a corner. The resulting corner also saw Manvir hit the target with an improvised effort at the near post that Gurpreet saved easily.

Bengaluru, meanwhile, struggled to muster any sort of response and hardly tested ATK Mohun Bagan’s goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharja. The Mariners continued to create chances easily and Krishna had another opportunity to add to his goal tally for the season in the 83rd minute but he couldn’t keep his header from a set-piece on target.

Sunil Chhetri tried his luck from outside the penalty area in the 88th minute, however, Arindam was up to the task and did the needful. The closing stages of the match saw Bengaluru pushing for goal but ATK Mohun Bagan held firm to earn another clean sheet along with maximum points.

Hero of the Match – Marcelo Pereira

Marcelo Pereira had another good outing for ATK Mohun Bagan and capped it off with his second goal for the Mariners since joining the club. He created one chance for his teammates, scored a sensational freekick to double his side’s lead on the night and was a threat throughout the game.

Other Match Awards:

Club Award – ATK Mohun Bagan

DHL Winning Pass of the Match – Roy Krishna (ATK Mohun Bagan)

Watch the Match Highlights here: