BENGALURU:
Sunil Chhetri came off the bench and dragged
Bengaluru FC beyond the finish line, the captain setting up
Nishu Kumar
for a last-minute tap in to edge past New Radiant SC 1-0 in a scrappy
AFC Cup
Group E tie. With the win here on Tuesday, Bengaluru seized sole top spot in the group with nine points from three matches.
The 33-year-old broke the offside trap to latch on to Boithang’s pass and squared it up for the young defender to score in the 90th minute.
Bengaluru, fielding an under-strength team, chose to go for defensive solidity. They lined up with a five-man defence - anchored by Erik Paartalu - to combat Radiant’s two-pronged attack, spearheaded by Ali Ashfaq and Guillem Misut.
The home side also chose to sit back and contain the opponents and tried to hit on the break. The strategy, however, paid few dividends as the Maldives team forced mistakes from Bengaluru with consistent pressure. For all the possession Radiant enjoyed, over 60 percent, they struggled to make goalkeeper L Ralte work. The star of their show was vice-captain Akram Gani who was given the licence to roam from a very high starting position.