XtraTime Web Desk: Manuel Lanzarote saved the day for ATK as he scored the equalizing goal at the stroke of half time against Jamshedpur FC. After the second-half the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
The home team’s goal came in the 33rd minute when Cidoncha’s low, curling free-kick bounced awkwardly in front of Arindam Bhattacharya who got slight touch at the ball but couldn’t stop it from hitting the back of the net.
Jamshedpur seemed destined to head to the half-time with a lead but in the very last minute of additional time of the first half, ATK get a corner. Lanzarote swung his corner kick curving towards the goal and Jamshedpur goalkeeper Subhashish Roy Chowdhury in trying to tip it over the bar inadvertently helped it inside his own net.
The home team’s dominating show in the first half was reduced to a much lesser showing in the second half that showed neither team taking the opportunity to gather all three points from the game.
The best chance of the half came in the 62nd minute when Arques loafted a ball into the ATK box and Tim Cahill ran behind his marker, rose and turned to head a lofted ball downwards and into the hands of Bhattacharya . Throughout his career, Cahill has scored most of his goals with his head and disposed chances like those with relative ease, so it wasn’t difficult to see him with his hands on his head at the chance squandered.
Beside that, neither team could carve out a scoring chance.
The draw takes Jamshedpur to the second spot in the points table with five points while ATK sit at the seventh spot. However, only two points separate the team in the second spot with the one in the eighth spot, with no team able to register 100 percent win rate, making the league quite open. It’s just the beginning and there’s a lot of shake-up yet to happen. ATK though need to pull up their socks, sooner than later.