Jamshedpur have finally secured their first victory in the Indian Super League 2022/23 season. A single first-half goal from Peter Hartley was enough for Aidy Boothroyd’s side to secure their first three points of the season during the clash with North East United FC at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur on Sunday.
The hosts actually had their spirits lifted as Hartley returned to the starting XI to shore up the backline for Jamshedpur and Eli Sabia had to make his way to the bench instead. Germanpreet Singh was ruled out of the contest because of injury and was replaced by Farukh Choudhary instead.
The visitors did well to keep Jamshedpur at bay for the first half hour. However, their resistance finally broke as the hosts found the breakthrough from Hartley.
From Wellington Priori’s corner, Harry Sawyer rose high to meet the ball and directed it towards the feet of the Jamshedpur defender, who had the simple task of side-footing the ball from close range and did it successfully.
Both the sides went into the break with the scoreline at 1-0. Sawyer was once again involved in the thick of things as he was picked out by Boris smartly in the 52nd minute. Despite adjusting his footing, his shot got blocked.
A few minutes later, Chukwu outmuscled his marker and got his shot away, but much like Sawyer, his shot got saved as well. At the other end of the park, Jamshedpur keeper TP Rehenesh produced a brilliant finger-tip save to deny Imran Khan an attempt at goal.
In the end, the hosts ended up securing all three points and climbed up into sixth place, six points off the top with a game in hand. North East United are now not only at the bottom of the table, but they have officially recorded their worst-ever start to an ISL season with four defeats on the bounce.
