ATK Mohun Bagan maintained its hegemony over Kerala Blasters in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) by chalking out an impressive 5-2 win at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium here on Sunday.
In a match played under persistent drizzle, ATK survived an electric start from the Blasters and punished the Kochi side for its defensive mistakes. After Ivan Kaliuzhnyi’s opening goal in the eight minute, Kerala Blasters faded away as Dimitrios Petratos’ hat-trick (26th, 62nd and 90+2) destroyed the Kochi side.
Joni Kauko (38th) and Lenny Rodrigues (88th) also got into the scorers list to silence the capacity crowd. In between, substitute K.P. Rahul pulled one back for Blasters in the 80 th minute when ATK goalkeeper Vishal Kaith allowed the ball to slip in between his legs. But any hopes of a comeback quickly vanished as ATK struck two late goals through counter-attacks as Blasters pressed for the equaliser.
ATK exploited the yawning gaps in Kerala’s defence and the rub of the green also went in favour of the Kolkata side as its defender Brenden Hamill’s wild clearances twice hit the crosspiece. The Kolkata side was more assertive in the second half with Liston Colaco proving to be a menace on the left flank. The midfielder found an unmarked Petratos with a through ball to put ATK 3-1 ahead in the 62 nd minute. After the goal Blasters was playing the catch up game.
However, Kerala Blasters was off to an electric start with Ivan Kaliuzhnyi making his presence felt. Blasters went ahead in the eighth minute through Ivan Kaliuzhnyi. Dimitrios Diamantakos stole the ball from Dimitrios Petratos and passed it to Kaliuzhnyi who sent Samad clear and his cutback was booted in by the Ukrainian.
To its credit, ATK soaked up the pressure and slowly began asserting itself with moves from the flanks. The equalising goal came against the run of play in the 26th minute when Frenchman Hugo Boumas moved unchallenged into the box from the left and squared to an unmarked Petratos who tapped in with his left foot into an open net. The Blasters defence was caught napping by another quick move from ATK from the right as Manvir Singh pass was banged in by Joni Kauko in the 38th minute.
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