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ATK registered a comprehensive 4-1 victory over Chennai City FC in Friday's Super Cup encounter. The Kolkata outfit took the lead courtesy a screamer from Hitesh Sharma but Chennai did well to equalize from a diving Joachim header.
Eventually, ATK had a tad more quality and scored two well-taken goals in the second half to take an unassailable lead. Captain and coach, Robbie Keane topped off the night with the final goal. Here are the major talking points for tonight's match.
#1 Substandard start to the match
Friday's Super Cup clash was between this season's 9th placed team in the ISL vs the 8th placed team in the I-League. Understandably, this was never going to be a match-high on quality and it showed from minute one.
Players from both sides started of making multiple mistakes, misplacing their passes despite being under no pressure whatsoever. It wasn't a pretty sight, far from it. Aimless long balls, poor short passes, and failure to control the ball resulted in extremely poor opening minutes, where neither team could impose themselves thoroughly.
Robin Singh, Robbie Keane were hardly influential for ATK. At the other end, trickster, Soosairaj, and Joachim found it difficult to create openings and looked off color in the initial stages.
#2 Robbie Keane forced to fall deep in play-maker role
ATK's star man began today's match alongside the towering Robin Singh in what initially looked like an extremely potent front two. But as the game progressed, Keane kept falling back as he cut a frustrating figure inside the opposition box.
Chennai City decided to sit deep and let ATK attack them after the initial fifteen minutes. As a result, Keane was man-marked by not one but two men. Now 37-years-old, there was no way he was going to outrun his markers and play off their shoulders.
In an attempt to get on the ball more, he decided to position himself near the halfway line and orchestrated his teams attack. He combined well with Hitesh Sharma and eventually found ATK's fourth and final goal of the game.
#3 Hitesh Sharma scores a splendid long-range effort
With the game deadlocked and neither team able to make inroads, the crowd was silent and the players even more. The usual suspects from both sides struggled to make an impact and defenders form both sides did not have much to do.
Amidst this mediocrity, up stepped Hitesh Sharma. The 20-year-old unleashed a bullet from distance which nestled right into the top right corner of the net. There was no way any keeper in the world could have got his hands to that.
With his left foot, Hitesh let loose a worldly strike. He displayed immaculate technique and poise to go through with his effort despite being hounded by opposition defenders.
#4 Jean-Michel Joachim replies with a diving header
The minute play was resumed after a problem with the floodlights, ATK took a deserved lead and piled the pressure on Chennai City. But not for one moment did the southern outfit look out of place.
They refused to back down and stung ATK when they were most vulnerable. Still recovering from their opening goal's celebrations, Robbie Keane and co. were caught napping on the wings and Chennai made the most of it.
Reacting first to a sublime cross from the right wing, Jean-Michel Joachim slipped his marker and scored a diving header past ATK keeper, Soram Poirei. That had quality written all over it.
#5 Will the real Robin Singh please stand up?
Not for the first time this season, Robin Singh produced a disappointing performance much to his own frustration. A clean-shaven Singh could not make any tangible impact on the game as he struggled to combine with Hitesh Sharma, Prabir Das, and Robbie Keane.
His touches were weak and he had a glorious opportunity to give his side a lead in the second half. One on one with the keeper, his weak left-footed effort was easily parried away by Chennai's keeper. He also missed a sitter of a header from 3 yards out late on.
Eventually, it was Zequinha who found the net close to the hour mark, expertly taking his chance from close range. Still only 27, Singh will need to step up, if he has dreams of winning back his spot in the Indian national team's starting XI.
