Xtra Time Web Desk : ATK Mohun Bagan under their new coach Juan Ferrando, returned to winning ways after a winless streak of four matches as they defeated Northeast United by a margin of 3-2.
For the Highlanders it was V.P. Suhair and Mashoor Shereef who made to the list of goal scorer, while for ATK it was Liston Colaco and Hugo Boumous who made sure that the Mariners got past the winning line.
It was horrific start for ATK Mohun Bagan in the first half as they conceded a goal within two minutes of the game. The goal could have come earlier but the Highlander striker missed judge the ball as he tried to head the ball. However, the ball was out for a corner which was converted into a goal by V.P Suhair as he headed the ball easily in the far post with no defender marking him.
As the Mariners were trailing by one goal they launched attack after attack with North East sitting back and clearing the ball mostly. But ATK’s attack failed consecutively as their was little combination in the final third with Manvir Singh and Roy Krishna missing couple of easy chances.
However, with the game entering in the final minutes of the first half, the Mariners were back into the game as Liston Colaco eqaulised the score in the 45+2 minutes. A mistake from the Highlander goalkeeper made the ball land at Hugo Boumous feet which was the collected by Roy Krishna who then made a beautiful cross to assist Colaco for the goal.
Returning for the second half, North East took charge of the game with several counter-attacks within a few minutes. However, it was the Mariners who got into the lead in the 52th minute as Hugo Boumous scored the second goal for his side after a brilliant team play display by ATK. Later in the 76th minute Hugo scored his brace from a joint play display with Joni Kauko which game the Mariners a two goal cusion.
The Higlanders got one goal back late in the match in 87th minute as Mashoor Shereef stroked a brilliant shot into the ATK net. North East looking for an equaliser were very late to get into the game and finally the referee had blown whistle with the 3-2 scorline favouring ATK Mohun Bagan.
In the next fixture, the Mariners will be taking on FC Goa, while North East United will lock horns against league leaders Mumbai City FC.