ATK Mohun Bagan vs SC East Bengal - Who won yesterday's ISL 2021-22 match?
ATK Mohun Bagan played hosts for SC East Bengal in the return leg of the Kolkata Derby on Saturday. The two sides met at the Pandit Jawaharlal Stadium in Fatorda in a match officiated by Crystal John. ATKMB came out 3-1 winners in the match due to a Kiyan Nassiri hat-trick.
The Mariners were looking at 100% record against the Red and Gold Brigade. Whereas the latter were seeking revenge for the 3-0 defeat against Juan Ferrando's men.
ATK Mohun Bagan lined up in a 4-2-3-1 while their rivals SC East Bengal were set up in a 4-4-2 with Antonio Perosevic and Marcelo Ribeiro leading from the front.
The opening exchanges between the two Kolkata giants promised an entertaining derby. Unfortunately for Marco Rivera, right full-back Ankit Mukherjee fell victim to an injury early in the game and was replaced by Amarjit Singh Kiyam.
The Red and Gold Brigade were compact in defense and did not allow Juan Ferrando's men any space in the central lanes. However, the deployment of pacey wingers like Liston Colaco and Manvir Singh aided the Mariners in their pursuit of getting ahead.
Two incidents that took place in the first half almost made the ATK Mohun Bagan bench skip a beat. The first one being Antonio Perosevic's attempt on goal. The striker collected the ball close to the touchline and went 1v1 with Tiri. The Croatian forward cut inside and launched a shot on goal but saw it deflected off by Amrinder Singh.
The second attempt looked more assuring for Marco Rivera's side. An uncontrolled backpass by Carl McHugh lured Marcelo Ribeiro before the ball could be headed away by Tiri. The forward gained control of it but his shot was wide off the mark.
ATK Mohun Bagan's Kiyan Nassiri becomes SC East Bengal's worst nightmare
The second half began with the Mariners looking fresh and with renewed hopes of getting the better of their arch-rivals. Liston Colaco got the better of Amarjit Kiyam and tried to curl one in but SC East Bengal were saved by the crossbar.
Moments later, things were happening at the other end. SC East Bengal earned a corner after Perosevic's shot was blocked off by Amrinder Singh. Darren Sidoel converted from a corner after poor marking from Subhasish Bose allowed him to run free towards the near post.
Juan Ferrando replaced Deepak Tangri with Kiyan Nassiri. Moments later the substitute grabbed the equalizer for the Mariners. Prabir Das sent in a cross that missed everyone. Liston Colaco collected the ball and tried to send in another cross which was blocked by Sourav Das. But the blocked cross fell in front of Kiyan, who made no mistake in grabbing the opportunity.
ATK Mohun Bagan had a golden opportunity to take the lead with a penalty after Liston Colaco was fouled inside the box by Amarjit Kiyam. But the Australian professional missed it by miles even though the keeper went the wrong way.
In the 90th minute, Liston sent in a cross from the left flank that missed everyone and hit the post. It came back only to be met by Kiyan, who blasted it past everyone to give his side the lead in the derby.
Deep into injury time, Kiyan added a third. Manvir Singh ran inside and flicked it for Kiyan, who placed a low shot difficult for the goalkeeper. Kolkata Derby found a new hero at 21 years of age and his contribution for ATK Mohun Bagan will be a talking point in the future.
With the win, ATKMB moved into the top four of the league while SCEB remained at the bottom.