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Bengaluru: Bengaluru FC were left to rue missed chances as they went down 2-3 to Army Service Corps in a thrilling BDFA Super Division game at the Bengaluru Football Stadium, on Wednesday. In a game that saw both sides take the lead in each half, the Army side had the final say as an injury-time strike from substitute Niraj Singh settled the tie in their favour.
After Muthuraman Thiyagrajan (16’) gave ASC a surprise lead, goals from the penalty spot from Edmund Lalrindika (52’) and Leon Augustine (74’) saw the Blue Colts go 2-1 up in the second half. Jotin Singh (85’) scored from the spot to bring things level once again before Niraj (90+3’) handed the Blue Colts the telling blow.
Naushad Moosa fielded four first team players in Aditya Patra, Sairuat Kima, Ajay Chhetri and Edmund Lalrindika, while Robin Yadav started in the defence in his first ever Super Division game.
The Blue Colts began confidently and dominated almost every single minute in the opening quarter giving no opportunity to the servicemen. But it was ASC who scored against the run of play to take a surprise lead. Tracking down a long ball, BFC defender Robin Yadav headed it back towards Patra while trying to hold on to possession. However, his header lacked the pace and was intercepted inside the box by Thiyagrajan who did well to loop it over an advanced Patra into the empty net.
Thereafter, the Blue Colts began pushing high up and almost stationed themselves in the rival half. Attacking from both flanks, the likes of Roshan Singh and Leon Augustine came closest to scoring the equalizer but were let down by their finish.
The second half saw Bengaluru attack with intent and they were finally rewarded seven minutes after the restart, when Leon’s ball was handled by C. Samananda Singh in the ASC box. Edmund stepped up and slotted the ball to the right of the goalkeeper to level scores.
Leon was once again in the thick of the action, as he was bundled over the box to win another spot-kick, which he would then convert to give Bengaluru a 2-1 lead with just a quarter of an hour to play. The Blue Colts continued to push ahead and kept creating chances.
Into the final ten minutes, Leon had another great chance to extend the lead when Edmund set him up after some good work down on the right. But the pacy winger sent his left-footed attempt over from close range.
The miss came back to haunt the Blue Colts when ASC scored twice in the final minutes. Skipper Jotin scored from the spot in the 85th minute after Sairuat Kima was adjudged to have handled the ball in the BFC box, before Niraj netted the winner three minutes into stoppage time, finding himself in space to slot past a hapless Aditya Patra in the BFC goal.
