MATCH REPORT: ATK does not disappoint Pele at home; keep Kerala at bay for a 2-1 win

AFTER AN ATK-DOMINATED first half, Kerala Blasters tried their best to come back into the game and draw level in the second period. But their efforts proved to be not enough as Atletico de Kolkata managed to clinch the match by a 2-1 margin, at home, defeating Kerala Blasters in a third round encounter in ISL tonight. 

ATK coach Habas started, as expected, with ex Blasters man Iain Hume as the target man, assisted by Nadong Bhutia, given the first start for his new franchise, replacing under-suspension Baljit Singh Sahni. He also sought to fortify the back by fielding Juan Catalyud in goal instead of Amrinder. Captain Josemi, now free of injury, made his way into the starting line-up replacing Nato who is away on national duty.

Kerala coach Peter Taylor started with two foreigner forwards for the first time, starting both Chris Dagnall and Sanchez Watt. To balance things out he replaced Marcus Williams with Saumil Dey. He started Josue instead of Pulga in the midfield and benched Vineeth in favour of Shankar Sampingraj.

But the new-look Kerala defence was put to task early on as Javi Lara hit the bar with a long-ranger, and within a minute ATK had found their lead. 

It was Gavilan who fed Hume who got past Bruno Perone inside the box and took a shot which keeper Bywater managed to get in the way of. But the deflected ball fell to an onrushing Arata who slammed it into the net. Immediately, Kerala were on the backfoot.

Further pressure mounted on Taylor as he had to substitute Gurwinder Singh who had picked up a knock with Ramandeep Singh. They got a chance to get back through a Rahul Bheke throw in, but Dagnall mis-timed the shot and the opportunity went begging.

From here on it was mostly ATK dictating things. Iain Hume was ruling the final third, while Javi Lara and Iain Hume were keeping him well supplied. A high ball ahead saw him get his head to it before Peter Ramage and then take a shot at the goal... but off target.

Towards the end of the half Kerala had a chance to equalize. Mohanraj lost the ball to Bheke who crossed it to Dagnall but he could not get to it.

The half ended with the home side firmly in control, and Taylor started the second half trying to lift his team out of the ditch by replacing Josue Currais with Pulga. 

But things started on a bitter note for the visitors once again as Ramandeep Singh fouled a threatening Arata Izumi, earning himself a yellow. Before this, in the first half, Josue had also earned himself a booking by bringing Arata down. But none of that proved to be of much use as Bruno Perone was beaten out of the picture once again as Hume got the ball to Javi Lara, who finished with ease. It was 2-0 to the home side and the Kerala defence looked clueless.

Another Rahul Bheke long throw saw momentary pressure on ATK defence, but poor delivery saw the ball find Catalyud. Then Mehtab Hossain brought more trouble upon himself by fouling Iain Hume and earning a yellow.

Kerala tried desperately to get back into the game. Josemi brought down Watt, who had been ineffective for most of the game, and Pulga tried to send the resulting free kick deep into the ATK box but defenders easily cleared it. Mehtab then tried to feed Dagnall again, but the English forward failed to get that all-important final touch. 

Taylor went for a more attacking approach by bringing in C.K.Vineeth in the place of Saumik Dey. And this is the move that finally paid off for Peter Taylor, to some extent at least. The wings became more mobile and Kerala Blasters soon took over as the more aggressive side. And the pressure soon paid off.

A Peter Ramage cross from the right saw C K Vineeth put a very slight and well-timed touch on it. The ball found Dagnall right in front of the goal, whose right footed slam left everyone standing. It was 2-1 with 10 minutes to go, and a game was on.

Next minute Kerala almost got their second. It was Dagnall this time with a cross from the right and Sanchez Watt in the middle directed it towards the goal with his left. But the keeper managed to one hand to it, and the tiny deflection saw it just about miss the crossbar.

Kerala did not give up chasing the game till the end. Vineeth ran up the left flank and passed it to Watt, but the shot was deflected for a corner. Chris Dagnall then won a corner but the referee thought it was a goal-kick.

Then things went sour again as Mehtab Hossain fouled newly introduced Valdo and saw his second yellow of the match. Down to 10 men, and with just a few minutes to go, Kerala were now almost out of the game.

But they still did try. A couple of attacks created by Bheke and Watt, before one last long throw-in that got cleared by Iain Hume, and that was it. Atletico de Kolkata won the match 2-1, a game of domination that ended as a hard-fought victory. 

Peter Taylor will be angry with the way his team played in the first half, but a couple of his choices in team selection was the reason behind it. Players like Saumik Dey and Bruno Perone were absolute disasters tonight; it was the latter who got beaten in the lead up to both the goals. Josue Currais, started ahead of the experienced Pulga, failed to justify his promotion. Chris Dagnall and Sanchez Watt failed to work as a team. Mehtab Hossain, for all his lively crosses, looked shaky all night and ended up earning a red card thanks to his badly timed tackles. 

Atletico de Kolkata took full advantage of the relative mediocrity from the Blasters defence early on. Had they not missed so many chances they would have been leading by multiple goals in the first half. In the second half things became heavy, but credit to Juan Catalyud who managed to keep out most of the attempts, especially a couple of stingy ones by Watt and Dagnall. The decision to play him definitely paid off for Habas, apart from the inclusion of Nadong Bhutia, whose presence in the wings made things more fluid for the home team.

The defending champions now go top of the table with 7 points from 3 matches, and remain one of just two teams still unbeaten in the ISL this year. Next they will face Pune City, the other unbeaten team so far and second on the table with a game in hand, away from home in a top-of-the-table encounter on Saturday.

As for Kerala Blasters, things have taken a hit. With 4 points from 3 matches, the pressure is now on Peter Taylor to turn things around and make sure they don't slip any further in the league table. They face Delhi Dynamos at home on Sunday, which is as good a chance to make a comeback as they will get.

But after a shaky start to the season, tonight was the first time Atletico de Kolkata showed absolute domination and it bodes well for their campaign. That they did it in front of some sixty thousand home fans, in the presence of football legend Pele, only adds to the significance of this win. 
 

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