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'Clash of the Classes' would have made for an apt line leading to the build up between the two teams. The last time the two teams met at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, Pune inflicted the first ever heavy defeat of sorts on the then league leaders Kolkata.
But times changed and in the fast paced atmosphere of the Indian Super League, the two teams have since had several rises and falls in the league table.
Kolkata draw first blood
The 3-1 humiliation of the league leaders was not forgotten as Kolkata, which began on the defensive, quickly came to the party in the 11th minute of the game. Pune opened the attacks on Kolkata with a shot from Dudu whistling past custodian Edel in the second minute of the game.
But despite Pune's heroics, and the wild cheering from the home fans, it was Kolkata who opened the scoring. It happened in an emphatic fashion too. Luis Garcia received a long pass on the right wing. The Spanish mid-fielder and marquee player for Kolkata controlled the ball and put in a brilliant cross hoping to find Fikru, and while the striker did run in to score off a header it was Jakub Podany who leapt into the air and struck the ball into the top right hand corner.
A move that was completely unexpected and caught Arindam off guard resulting in the opening goal for the away team. :
Pune equalise in style
There was a thought that post the goal Pune would let the floodgates open up and Kolkata would take them to the cleaners, but something quite opposite happened. Even though they were denied the elusive goal, they kept hammering attack after attack, and counter after counter on the Kolkata back line.
Coach Franco Colomba's problem up front of his strikers and forwards unable to finish the passes continues as the team missed a good five shots on the goal. Edel denied Pune a goal in the 30th minute when a powerful volley from Vadocz was saved by him. Five minutes later Pune scrambled a flurry of chances to put the ball behind the reach of Edel but to no avail.
It was only in the last minute of the first half when an erroneous decision to award a thrown in for Pune gave the home team a slight advantage. The ball landed towards Bruno Cirillo who lobbed it into the six-yard box. Josemi failed to clear it satisfactorily, and the ball went directly to Kostas who slid down to take a shot which went past Edel into the bottom left corner to equalise for the home team.
Pune attack; Kolkata defend
The second half began pretty much in similar manner as the first. Kolkata nearly scored in the 46th minute when Fikru received a good ball only to pass it to Podany but Arindam was there this time to grab the ball away.
After that it was mostly a case of trading jabs between both sides. While Kostas tried to increase the lead for the home team in the 54th minute, Luis garcia combined with Podany a minute later with no success. The ineffective Davide Colomba was taken off eventually by Pune in the 59th minute with striker Abranches coming on for him.
Pune went back to the 4-4-2 formation after the substitution. The change in Pune's body language was almost immediate. In fact the sideways passing which Pune has been guilty of time and again gave way to more forward long balls.
While Garcia made way for Jofre and Pennant made way for Kwang Park, it was of no avail. Pune had blocked down Fikru in amazing fashion, with the Ethiopian having absolutely no chance to run anywhere except blind alleys.
Pune for some reason resorted to side passing (once again) and tried to move the ball forward to no avail. Kolkata too put up a stiff resistance. In hind sight, Pune could have scored a winner late on in the game but Edel, who had let one slide by past him made no errors this time around and was up to the task.
The previous time the two teams met, Pune had climbed to the third spot after defeating Kolkata. There were no such wonders this time around. While they couldn't slay the giants on the top, they did manage to put up an impressive performance and settle for a draw instead.
Even with 13 points however Pune still languishes in the second last spot (owing to a goal difference) Kolkata on the other hand find their position slightly shaken on the second spot with 17 points and both FC Goa and Kerala Blasters at 15 points each.
