ISL 2022-23: Bengaluru FC stays in playoffs hunt after 3-0 triumph over Jamshedpur FC
ISL 2022-23: Matchday 16 saw Bengaluru FC drubbing Jamshedpur FC 3-0 away from home on Wednesday, keeping the former in the playoffs hunt.
FollowFormer champion Bengaluru FC (BFC) recorded a third successive win in the 2022-23 Indian Super League (ISL) and was dragged closer to the final playoff spot after overthrowing Jamshedpur FC 3-0 at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur on Wednesday. The triumph puts it in seventh place, three points ahead of record former two-time champion Chennaiyin FC (CFC) and just one behind FC Goa (FCG). Rohit Kumar netted for the second game running and broke the deadlock inside ten minutes before Roy Krishna’s stunner doubled the Blues’ advantage in the 34th minute. The third and final goal of the contest came just after the hour-mark when Siva Narayanan freed a left-footed drive from the box’s edge after gliding in from the right flank.
The match got off to an illuminated start, with both sides trekking into the opposition’s territory and testing the waters regularly. Prabir Das sprang on Krishna’s through pass down the right before flogging a cross towards the far post, where Rohit’s side-footed volley put BFC in front in the eighth.
The Blues had to bear JFC’s pressure after pressing ahead. The hosts bore on to the ball and quizzed, winning four corners in six minutes at a point. The BFC defence was experimented with by Eli Sabia, Harry Sawyer and Daniel Chukwu, particularly in the air, but tended to hold on throughout a game in which JFC wasn’t bereft of possibilities.
In all, JFC kept the ball more and made a staggering 25 cracks on goal but cared to get only four on target. At the other end, BFC ascertained the extent of being clinical and designated a two-goal pillow just after the half-hour mark when Krishna blasted a shot from 30 yards out and caught the hosts off guard.
In the second half, Ricky Lallawmawma clobbered in a pin-point cross to Sawyer, who was left unmarked at the far post. The Australian headed the ball into the ground before bouncing it over the bar. Narayanan pushed the final nail in the coffin a little over ten minutes later with a sublime left-footed effort.
The assortment of Sandesh Jhinghan and Alan Costa at the back of BFC’s defence repeatedly intercepted the physical and aerial perils that were hurled at it by the JFC attackers and finally took the Blues to its fourth clean sheet of the season. BFC is solely a point away from sixth place but has played a contest more than Goa and two more than CFC, which are its two primary rivals in the playoff race.
The Marina Machans will be BFC’s next opponent on January 28. JFC’s playoff race is all but over. The Red Miners are 11 points off the playoff zone, with only five games to go. Their next challenge will be at home against former champion Mumbai City (MCFC) on January 27.
