Christmas was merrier for the men in red and white as the ATK beat Bengaluru FC 1-0 in Kolkata on Wednesday to jump to the top of the table. Striker David Williams' stunning finish in the 47th minute proved to be the difference as the home team registered its first-ever win against The Blues in the history of the Indian Super League (ISL).
From goalkeeping bloopers to relentless, end-to-end football, Sportstar takes a look at the talking points from the high-octane clash.
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1) Man of the match performance from David Williams
In a match riddled with shots off target and chances gone begging, there was one player who hit all his shots on target. David Williams had two shots on target, including a stunning finish from outside the box in the 47th minute. After Rahul Bheke intercepted Roy Krishna's through ball to Williams, the Bengaluru defender and Jayesh Rane got into a small tussle. The ball rolled towards Williams, eventually, who took a couple of touches before smashing the ball into the net.
Moreover, the striker created three chances, including two sumptuous deliveries over the defence into the box that his teammates were unable to put away.
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2) Poor accuracy hurt Bengaluru
The Blues recorded a total of five chances on goal but none of them landed on target. On the other hand, ATK, despite not having any shots on target in the first half, managed to hit three in the second half and eventually found the breakthrough.
Bengaluru, which prides itself of scoring from set-pieces, failed to convert from all the set-pieces and corners.
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3) Bloopers from both goalkeepers
The first half of the match saw multiple moments of casualness from either custodians.
In the first minute of the match, high pressing from the visitor resulted in ATK playing the ball to the back. The final back pass to the 'keeper Arindam Bhattacharja, who took too long to clear the ball, was almost intercepted by Sunil Chhetri.
Two minutes later, Bengaluru custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu almost gave away the ball to a charging Roy Krishna as he was also guilty of holding the ball for too long. At the stroke of half time, Sandhu survived a scare once again when he tried to clear a back pass but the ball ricocheted off David Williams' leg and rolled out for a goal kick.
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