FC Pune City 1-0 NorthEast United: 5 Talking Points
FC Pune City narrowly scraped past NorthEast United FC 1-0 to register their second successive win in the second season of the Indian Super League. Unfortunately for the visiting side, who showed remarkable improvement from their last game, it was an own goal by defender Zohmingliana Ralte that saw them move to the bottom of the table.NEUFC came close to scoring numerous numbers of times in the both halves, but failed to convert any of them. It was a real test of character for David Platt’s men, as the speed of Nicholas Velez and Kamara’s plays really troubled the FC Pune City defence.Pune now moves to the top of the table with two successive wins while NorthEast United heads back to Guwahati for their home league of matches with loads of positives from this encounter. Here are five talking points from the match.
#1 Rough first half for both teams
There were quite a few rough tackles in the match with a booking each for both clubs in the first 20 minutes itself. Silas got a yellow in the 14th minute for a cynical tackle from behind when he was robbed off the ball and tried to make amends by tracking back. The number 10 had no option but to bring Adrian Mutu down as he was in on goal.
Two minutes later Manish Maithani got Nicholas Velez down just outside the box with a bad challenge which resulted in blood dripping off the strikers chin. Manish was shown a card while Velez continued playing with a bandage strapped around his forehead.