ISL 2022-23: Matchday 21 continued on Saturday, with Hyderabad FC hosting Jamshedpur FC. However, the hosts were stunned 3-2, with the visitors down to ten men.
A seven-minute triple-goal detonation premature in the opening half helped Jamshedpur FC (JFC) overpower defending champion Hyderabad FC (HFC) 3-2 despite playing most of the second half with just ten men in the 2022-23 Indian Super League (ISL) in Hyderabad on Saturday. HFC made seven changes to its line-up. The new-look side made a greasy start to the match, but it was a familiar name in Bartholomew Ogbeche who put it in front. The striker leapt between two defenders from a Rohit Danu corner to put his side 1-0 ahead in the 12th minute.
But JFC drew level in the 22nd after moving the ball wide to defender Boris Singh. The winger’s high cross hung up at the far post, where Ritwik Das mounted above Reagan Singh to head it into the net. A few minutes after, Harry Sawyer got on the end of a low cross from the left, denied acrobatically by Lalbiakhlua Jongte on his ISL debut. From the resulting corner, Sawyer’s header was parried by Ogbeche’s outstretched arm, and Jay Thomas sent Jongte the wrong way from the spot as JFC marched ahead.
Things got even worse for HFC when Sawyer won an aerial duel in midfield, heading the ball towards Daniel Chukwu in the 29th. Chukwu outmuscled Nim Dorjee to get a clear path to the goal before tipping over Jongte from outside the box, making it 3-1. HFC was given way back into the contest when Vishal Yadav’s slip during a goal-kick put Javier Siverio one-on-one with him. Siverio was brought down by the last man Eli Sabia, who was instantly red-carded in the 56th.
The home team made four changes in the subsequent half, with Joao Victor returning to action, but toiled to break through JFC’s defence. That was until the 74th when Ricky Lallawmawma’s hand touched the ball. Victor stepped up to take the spot-kick, but Yadav went to his right, denying HFC.
In the 79th, Abdul Anjukandan’s cross from the right found its way through to Ogbeche at the far post, bringing it under control, and he managed to hammer it despite losing his footing. It blew off Yadav into the near post, handing the home side another way back.
Ogbeche was at it again in the 84th, leaping similarly to his opening goal but unable to keep his header under the crossbar. That was the closest it would come to an equaliser before Yadav jumped to his left, denying a Siverio header in the ninth minute of stoppage time.
The result didn’t have any bearing on the tournament’s following stage but lifted JFC into ninth place ahead of East Bengal (EBFC). On Wednesday, its last season game is at home against Odisha FC (OFC). HFC will draw the curtains on this season’s league stage with an away fixture to Kerala Blasters (KBFC) on February 26.