Vodafone Fijian football captain Roy Krishna scored twice for ATK as they beat Jamshedpur FC 3-1 at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, India on Saturday night.

The victory was ATK’s third successive win in the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2019-20 and the three points see them climb to the top of the table with nine points from four outings. For Jamshedpur, on the other hand, it was their first loss of the campaign.

With the presence of his family cheering from the stands Krishna scored a brace (57th minute and 71st minute) and Edu Garcia (90+4 minute) was on target to seal full points for the hosts. Sergio Castel scored the consolation goal for Jamshedpur (85’).

WHAT HAPPENED

It was a fast start to the match and the Men of Steel could have drawn first blood as early as the eighth minute when Piti outfoxed Rane on the left flank and delivered an inch-perfect cross to Farukh Choudhary at the far post. The India international timed his jump to perfection but his header struck the crossbar and went out of play.

ATK upped their ante after the first 15 minutes and started raiding Jamshedpur’s fort through the two wide wing-backs Michael Soosairaj and Prabir Das. They combined well in the attacking third with David Williams and Krishna but Jamshedpur’s backline led by Tiri and Memo defended resolutely to thwart ATK’s attempts.

Both teams headed for the tunnel with the scoreline unchanged.

ROY MAGIC

After resumption, ATK did not have to wait longer to take the lead. In the 55th minute, Habas’ front two Krishna and Williams played a brilliant give-and-go between them to split open Jamshedpur’s defence.

Tiri lunged in with a last-ditch tackle inside the box to stop the Fijian from shooting and this time referee Rahul Kumar Gupta pointed straight to the spot.

The former Wellington Phoenix striker sent Subrata Paul the wrong way to open the scoring.

Seconds later Javier Hernandez hit the side netting with a free-kick from just outside the Jamshedpur box, as the momentum seemed to have clearly swung ATK’s way post the opening goal.

In the 69th minute, Krishna won himself a second penalty of the night, this time, after being tackled by Memo in the Jamshedpur box. The 2018-19 A-League Golden Boot winner converted similarly with his first try, but had to retake the spot kick as ATK players ventured into the box before the spot-kick was taken. The 32-year-old, however, was unperturbed and converted from the second try with equal authority.

Just as ATK seemed to have closed shop, the match was in for a twist. Another spot-kick was awarded– this time in the away side’s favour after Anas Edathodika’s infringement on Castel. Castel converted the chance in the 85th minute to set up a thrilling end to the contest.

Both sides created a flurry of chances in the final five minutes and added time, and the match witnessed the fourth goal of courtesy substitute Edu Garcia in the dying seconds to seal the 3-1 win.

MATCH AWARDS

Club Award: ATK

Maruti Suzuki Limitless Player of the Match: Javier Hernandez

DHL Winning Pass of the Match: Roy Krishna

ISL Emerging Player of the Match: Isaac Vanmalsawma

Hero of the Match: Roy Krishna

Edited by Naisa Koroi

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