Bengaluru FC and ATK Mohun Bagan exchanged six goals between them during their Thursday night fixture at the Athletic Stadium in Bambolim. Both sides were in desperate need of a win and were left to rue some poor defending from set-pieces in the end.
Bengaluru FC and ATK Mohun Bagan both, in need of a win, held each other to a 3-3 draw on Thursday night at the Athletic Stadium. The two sides passed the lead between them but were unable to hold onto their advantages, stretching their respective winless runs and sliding further down the league table.
Five of the six goals came directly or indirectly from a corner, including the first three. Subhasish Bose opened the scoring for ATKMB in the 13th minute by heading the ball in at the near post. Three minutes later, Cleiton Silva played a short corner, burst into the box, and was fouled by Liston Colaco, resulting in the referee pointing to the spot. Silva himself took the spot-kick to draw Bengaluru level.
Silva turned provider for Bengaluru’s second goal of the game – his corner flicked away from Amrinder Singh and into the corner by Danish Farooq Bhat in the 26th minute. Then, it was ATKMB’s turn to level the proceedings, which they did through Hugo Boumous, who latched onto a Roy Krishna through ball before confidently finishing past Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
Bose drew a penalty on the other side of the break for ATKMB; the full-back was fouled clumsily by Bengaluru forward Prince Ibara during a set-piece situation. Krishna stepped up to score his third of the season from the spot and give his side a 3-2 lead. Ibara, later, atoned for his mistake by heading in the equalizer – Bengaluru’s second of the match – from a corner in the 72nd minute.
The Congolese forward was then presented with a couple of chances to win the game for his side. He stung the palms of Amrinder with his first in the 80th minute, before nearly heading the winner from yet another corner in the second minute of stoppage time. However, as it was, neither side scored again, and the match ended in a 3-3 draw.
