Rampant Pune leave ATK in tatters

PUNE: A Diego Carlos inspired-FC Pune City put ATK to the sword with a ruthless attacking display, winning 3-0 on the night in their Indian Super League encounter here at the Balewadi stadium on Saturday.
Adil Khan, Diego Carlos and Rohit Kumar were on the scoresheet as the home side matched their margin of victory over their opponents in the first leg, having won the fixture in Kolkata 4-1.
The Stallions stay in third place with 19 points from 11 games while ATK continue to languish in eighth position with 12 points from 10 games.
Back after a one-match suspension, Marcelinho tested Debjit Majumder as early as the seventh minute as his free-kick bounced awkwardly in front of the ATK goalkeeper but the ball was safely parried away. In the 19th minute, Pune’s Uruguayan striker Emiliano Alfaro came agonisingly close to giving his side the lead but his diving header went just wide after a lovely cross by Carlos.
ATK had their first chance of the game on the half-hour mark when Rupert Nongrum made good headway down the right flank before crossing for Zequinha whose header went straight into Pune goalie Vishal Kaith’s arms.
Two minutes later, the home side broke the deadlock after Khan planted his header into the top corner from Marcelinho’s outswinging corner.
That seemed to bring ATK to life and they nearly equalised in the 36th minute but Conor Thomas’s follow-up from Hitesh Sharma’s header was cleared off the goal-line by former ATK man Jewel Raja.