Half Time Report: ATK get lucky as offside goal puts them ahead of Pune

Starting Line-Ups:

Atletico de Kolkata - Amrinder Singh, Tiri, Arnab Mondal, Iain Hume, Jaime Gavilan, Borja Fernandez, Rino Anto, Arata Izumi, Sameehg Doutie, Oftense Nato, Augustin Fernandes

FC Pune City - Arindam Bhattacharya, Manish Maithani, Dharmaraj Ravanan, Didier Zokora, Nicky Shorey, Lenny Rodrigues, James Bailey, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Yendrick Ruiz, Adrian Mutu, Tuncay Sanli

AN EARLY GOAL by Iain Hume, which actually should have been disallowed for offside, saw Atletico de Kolkata take a 1-0 lead over a seemingly in-form Pune City. 

For the home team, Arata Izumi came back into the starting line-up, replacing Mohammed Rafique. That was the only change for the defending champions. But Pune City, who came desperately looking for their first away win of the season, made wholesale change in their squad, bringing Manish Maithani, James Bailey, Dharmaraj Ravanan, Tuncay Sanli, Victor Ruiz and Lenny Rodrigues back into their first eleven. 

The visitors looked in good shape. After clearing an early attempt by Mondal to feed Hume they put together some onslaughts of their own. A great backheel from Tuncay saw Mutu in possession but his cross was blocked. 

But then came a break-through for the home team. Arata Izumi fooled an opponent player with his pace and ran up the left flank, sent it in for Iain Hume who was way offside but made no mistake putting it at the back of the net when the ball came to him. But the referee did not seem to think there was anything wrong with his positioning and he allowed the goal. 1-0 to ATK within the first 10 minutes, thanks to yet another officiating blunder.

ATK got another good chance Hume fed Borja with a cross and the latter was within scoring range but shot above the crossbar. 

The pressure was on and tempers were showing signs of going off. Didier Zokora pushed Hume, and the two got into an argument. 

Then Pune almost got back. Mutu and Tuncay exchanged the ball, and the marquee striker had a clear shot at the goal. He let fly towards the far post and the goalkeeper was in no way going to reach it. But unfortunately the ball hit the post and bounced off. 

Eugeneson got a yellow for a professional foul on Doutie but by now there were signs that Pune were coming right back into this game. A ball from Ruiz saw Tuncay send it to Mutu, inside the box, whose header went over the crossbar. 

Then Zokora was at it again. He almost trapped Hume's head in his elbow. Hume reacted angrily and made a mistake by not stepping back when the referee asked him to. As a result, it was the ATK striker who got booked; Zokora got away with the crime. That's another refereeing blunder to add to the list. 

Tuncay sent a good ball to Ruiz who was outside the penalty box but took a crack at the goal anyway. The ball just about missed the target. 

Nerves were on the edge everywhere. Tuncay was fouled by Nato who got booked. 

Mutu managed to run straight through the ATK defence, passed to Lenny who sent the ball back but Mutu failed to reach it. And then Manish Maithani straight up brought down Arata Izumi; a necessary foul because the medio would have been one-on-one with the keeper had he gone through. The referee duly booked Manish, but nothing came from the resulting free-kick.

So the first half ended with ATK 1-0 ahead. They were lucky. On any other night that goal could have been disallowed. And on any other night the couple of close misses Pune had (including the one where they hit the post) could have gone in. Pune are playing well and there's a good chance they will score in the second half so ATK will have to be extra vigilant in order to maintain their lead and possibly extend it.