Half Time Report: Pune, NE stick to midfield play in a 0-0 impasse dominated by half-chances

Starting Line-Ups:

FC Pune City - Steve Simonsen, Manish Maithani, Dharmaraj Ravanan, Roger Johnson, Nicky Shorey, Fanai Lalrempuia, Didier Zokora, Lenny Rodrigues, Israil Gurung, Adrian Mutu, Yendrick Ruiz

NorthEast United FC - Gennaro Bracigliano, Reagan Singh, Zohmingliana Ralte, Cedric Hengbart, Yumnam Raju, Sanju Pradhan, Cedric Hanghal, Diomansy Kamara, Silas, Francis Dadzie, Nicolas Velez

The first half was a tale of nearly-there efforts as David Platt's FC Pune City, boosted by their 3-1 win over Mumbai City, took on a NorthEast United side desperate to make a comeback from their 3-1 loss to Kerala Blasters.

Both teams made several changes to their starting line-ups. Pune City gave their marquee player Adrian Mutu a start, replacing Tuncay Sanli who scored two goals for them in the previous game. Dharmaraj Ravanan, Fanai Lalrempuia and Yendrick Ruiz too were given their first start of the season.

NorthEast United looked to solidify their defence with Bracigliano in goal, instead of Rehenesh and putting in Yumnam Raju in place of Seityasen Singh. Elsewhere, Sanju Pradhan, Francis Dadzie and Zohmingliana Ralte were also introduced into the starting line up. The really bad news for them was that Miguel Garcia's ligament injury is looking bad and he may be out for the whole season.

The match began with the Argentine Nicolas Velez announcing his intentions by earning an early corner from a Ravanan long ball. Then Pune City sought to put some pressure back on NEUFC with a high ball forward which found Israil Gurung, who headed it in for Maithani, and it almost caught Bracigliano off position but the latter somehow managed to get his hand to the ball. 

The French keeper was tested again as Nicky's cross was served up to Mutu by Yendick. Mutu's shot saw Bracigliano dive and deflect it for a corner. 

Mutu's mobile presence put some pressure on the opposition. Medio Silas picked up a yellow early on by chasing Mutu down and fouling him from behind. The game got a bit nasty as Velez took on Manish Maithani who brought him down and earned a yellow of his own, as Velez had to get bandage on his face to stop the bleeding. The resulting free kick saw Kamara almost score. 

The Argentine striker didn't let the injury bog him down and kept troubling the Pune defence. Ravanan was no match for his speed. But he committed the sin of going for glory a couple of times when he could have easily passed to a better-positioned colleague.

After the half hour mark Kamara invaded the box and took a shot at the goal. Ravanan got his foot to the ball, and the deflection caused it to miss the target by inches. 

The resulting corner kick found Velez inside the box who headed the ball towards the goal and missed it narrowly. 

NorthEast United, after starting in a more defensive posture, took to more and more attacks as their agility constantly frustrated the Pune City midfielders. Most of the attacks that the home side got resulted in shots from a distance. Israil Gurung, who had been dominant with his runs up the wing against Mumbai City has been somewhat muted tonight, other than a couple of good crosses which failed to put much pressure on the visitors' defence. NEUFC's debutant keeper has still looked somewhat shaky, missing his position and dropping the ball a few times. 

But the half ended goalless. And as the teams go in with a firm mindset to mind their own halves and not go down we may get a second goal-less half as well. Unless Velez finally finds the target or Pune City give their attack some much needed pace boost by bringing on Tuncay.