Strikes from Roy Krishna and David Williams against NorthEast United fired ATK to the top of the Indian Super League (ISL) on Saturday. The 3-0 thrashing handed NorthEast its first defeat of the season.
Sportstar looks at the talking points from the game:
1) Gyan early injury hurts NEUFC
It all could have turned out differently for NorthEast if striker Asamoah Gyan had put away his chance in the third minute. Gyan was found by Lalthathanga Khawlhring's lobbed ball over the defence which the Ghanian brought down expertly before releasing a meek shot which was saved by 'keeper Arindam Bhattacharya. While stretching to take his shot, Gyan pulled his hamstring and had to depart the game with only nine minutes on the clock.
In the process, NEUFC lost the power and aerial presence up front to trouble ATK's defence. And within two minutes of his substitution, ATK sucker-punched the home side with a goal on the counter-attack through David Williams.
2) ATK finds joy on the wing
Williams, Roy Krishna and wing-back Prabir Das were a constant threat on the left wing of NEUFC defence where youngster Rakesh Pradhan had a difficult time in the first half. The opening goal came from Das out-running Pradhan before whipping in a looping cross for Williams to score. Krishna and Williams' direct runs behind the left flank exposed NEUFC's defence time and again. If it weren't for some wasteful finishing, ATK could have added more than three goals.
3) Short bursts, effective game-plan
ATK dominated the statistics for short sprints, top speeds and distances covered throughout the 90 minutes. Krishna, Williams, Edu Garcia, Javier Hernandez, Das, Michael Soosairaj and Sehnaj Singh were regular names topping the charts for ATK while NEUFC players struggled to match up to the away team's relentless approach.
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