Hyderabad FC throw away lead to draw at home to Bengaluru FC | ISL 2023-24
Hyderabad FC played out a 1-1 draw against Bengaluru FC in the ISL at the Maidaan in Gachibowli on Saturday. The Nizams deployed a unique 3-4-2-1 formation and caught the Blues by surprise in the first half.
Bengaluru, however, adapted better to the challenges put to them in the second half and attacked the hosts' goal relentlessly. But the latter did not budge and kept the scoreline level.
Hyderabad FC were put ahead by Mohammad Yasir in the 35th minute. Yasir was set up by a brilliantly lobbed ball from Oswaldo Alanis that he controlled with his foot and then managed to put past the lunging Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
The Nizams went into the break with the lead intact but had to retract their authority when Ryan Williams pulled one back for the Blues in the 58th minute. Former Hyderabad winger Halicharan Narzary, having made the move down to Bengaluru earlier this season, set the latter up.
Hyderabad were served poorly by their Costa Rican striker Jonathan Moya, who spent 83 minutes on the pitch and failed to provide any creative output in front of goal. The 31-year-old, who has only just come back from a hamstring injury, was expectedly rusty.
What was astonishing was that the management were willing to spend that much of time on the pitch when Australian attacker Joe Knowles was languishing on the bench.
Knowles was asked to come onto the pitch on at least three occasions by first-team coach Conor Nestor before changing his mind. When the former Brisbane Roar centre-forward finally did come on, the game was far from being salvageable for Hyderabad.
Bengaluru took the attack to the Yellow and Blacks in the second half and came excruciatingly close to adding to their lead. However, Hyderabad's defensive troika of Chinglensana Singh, Nim Dorjee Tamang and Oswaldo Alanis ensured that not much could go past them.
Goalkeeper Gurmeet Singh's handling was top-notch as was his composure in a particularly tricky one-on-one situation with Sunil Chhetri later on in the second half.
Tamang, Sana and Alanis were perhaps the best players on offer for Hyderabad today, with the possible exception of young Mark Zothanpuia, who was possibly the best player from the two sides combined.
Zothanpuia more than held his own in his rather unfamiliar left-wing-back position and did justice to the faith shown upon him by his manager.
Bengaluru attacked the Hyderabad goal mercilessly in the second half
Bengaluru might feel let down by the lack of conversion in the final third but the Hyderabad defenders were on top of their game. Chhetri did his best to bring the others into play, and things took a turn for the better when Javi Hernandez came on.
His creativity in midfield was what gave Bengaluru the push in the second half, and illuminated exactly what Hyderabad were lacking. The club failed to get hold of a creative attacking midfielder in the transfer window, and it has cost them dearly.
Hyderabad go up one spot to the 10th position with two points and will next take on Punjab FC on Tuesday.
Bengaluru, on the other hand, go into the international break in the ninth position of the standings with five points to their name.