ISL 2022-23: Bengaluru FC coach Simon Grayson delighted with late 'birthday gift'

By Team Newsable | First Published Dec 18, 2022, 3:06 PM IST

A fifth-minute Danish Farooq strike was enough to hand Bengaluru FC three vital points against Jamshedpur FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) 2022-23 at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday.

On Saturday, Bengaluru FC defeated Jamshedpur FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) 2022-23 at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, thanks to a goal from Danish Farooq in the fifth minute. Opportunities were present on both sides of the field as the Red Miners struggled inside the Bengaluru FC area, and the Blues occasionally rattled the woodwork.

The broke into a rendition of 'Happy Birthday' for the gaffer, and this was his response to the crowd. pic.twitter.com/HxvLLvUWQe

— Bengaluru FC (@bengalurufc)

The only alteration made by the hosts was the substitution of Parag Shrivas for Prabir Das. The guests made three alterations. The most important of them was the forced match in which Pratik Chaudhari was brought in to play against his old team in place of the suspended Peter Hartley. Jitendra Singh replaced Germanpreet Singh, who was again left off the team. Ritwik Das was replaced in midfield by Farukh Choudhary in the other substitution.

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Bengaluru FC scored their opening goal five minutes into the game, so the home audience didn't have to wait long. Before launching a ball early in the direction of Farooq, Roy Krishna ran down the right wing. From the edge of the area, the midfielder took a touch before putting it past the goalkeeper at the near post.

Krishna sprinted into the area five minutes after the goal and fired a low shot toward the far post. The Fijian's attempt was diverted in the opposite direction for a corner that had little effect. Ishan Pandita received Jay Thomas' throw-in from the right wing in the 19th minute, and Gurpreet Singh Sandhu deflected his sliced effort onto the post.

Hernandez had a few chances a few minutes into the second half. In the first one, Yadav blocked his weak shot from the edge of the box. A short while later, the Spaniard unleashed another shot from the same location, but this time just connected with the post.

Pandita had two good opportunities inside the box five minutes after the hour mark. A promising ball was thrown in from the right flank by Jitendra Singh. Daniel Chukwu, a substitute, headed it toward Pandita, who then missed with a wide shot.

The ball was subsequently played into the box by Harry Sawyer, who had just passed Shrivas and was entirely unmarked by Pandita. The 24-year-attempt, old's though, failed to touch the ball properly, which summed up the Red Miners' evening.

A late birthday gift for the gaffer! 🎁 pic.twitter.com/JslEKlny6n

— Bengaluru FC (@bengalurufc)

Following this win, Bengaluru FC coach Simon Grayson expressed delight and relished his late birthday gift. Grayson, who celebrated his birthday on December 16, said, "A lot of players and staff were wishing me Happy Birthday yesterday (December 16). I said, "It's only a Happy Birthday if we win tonight" and we've managed to do that."

"I thought the performance was really good. We showed different characteristics and I thought we played really well. Our possession worked and we pressed at the right times, defended against a team that bought a lot of balls into the box in set pieces, but we created a lot of good chances and on another day we would have got a comfortable 2-3 goals, making it a lot more comfortable and relaxing night involved in football," the BFC coach added.

The win sees Bengaluru FC leapfrog East Bengal FC and move into eighth place. The Blues will host Hyderabad FC in their next game on December 23, Friday. Jamshedpur FC remain tenth with four points. The Red Miners will return home to host FC Goa on December 22, Thursday.

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