Introduction
Nigerian Centre Back Stephen Eze scored a late equalizer for Jamshedpur FC to grab an important point. In their clash against Hyderabad FC. Eze’s strike cancels the opener by Hyderabad skipper Aridane Santana. The game was full of controversial incidents as the Red Minors had a goal disallowed in the second half. Also, the Hyderabad head coach Manuel Marquez was shown a red card in the 90th minute for entering the pitch.
Despite missing some key players because of injuries Hyderabad almost dominated the game. Their young guns raised to the occasion created more chances in the game but failed to find a second goal to seal the game for them.
Line Ups
Hyderabad FC
Formation (4-2-3-1)
Goalkeeper : Kattimani
Defense : Onaindia, Chinglensana, Akash, Asish (Poojari – 67′)
Midfield : Hitesh (Adil – 74′), Victor, Yasir
Attack : Narzary, Colaco, Santana (Halder – 83′)
Jamshedpur FC
Formation (4-3-3)
Goalkeeper : Pawan Kumar
Defense : Renthlei, Eze, Hartley, Ricky
Midfield : Mobashir, Munroy, Amarjith (Aniket – 46′)
Attack : Jackichand (Isaac – 60′), Lima (William – 60′), Valskis
FIRST HALF
Hyderabad FC, who is still undefeated in the campaign. Started the game with just 3 foreign players as the rest of the foreigners were missing the game because of injuries. They also missed the services of veteran goalkeeper Subrata Paul and started with second option goalkeeper Laxmikanth Kattimani. Both the teams played the first half with a lot of intensity, but could not produce clear-cut opportunities. Jamshedpur kept more possession but it was Hyderabad who produced more opportunities in the first 20 minutes.
After a slow start, Jamshedpur began to get into the game. Defender Laldinliana Renthlei made a surging run into the box in the 24th minute and laid the ball for Jackichand Singh. The shot, however, was brilliantly saved by custodian Kattimani. The best chance of the half came in the 41st minute as Halicharan Narzary struck the woodwork after a fine solo performance. Both teams lacked some creativity in the final third as the half ended goalless.
SECOND HALF
Just 5 minutes into the second half, Hyderabad breaks the deadlock. Once again it was Halicharan Narzary with the shot from distance. This time he finds the target and forced goalkeeper Pawan Kumar to make the save, but he was only able to punch it towards Aridane Santana who was waiting inside the box, the Spaniard just had to place the ball into the empty net and he did it with ease. Just minutes after taking the lead Hyderabad came very close to doubling the score in the form of a quick counter. Youngsters Liston Colaco and Asish Rai combined to form that attack, but Rai’s shot eventually got blocked by Renthlei.
Just after the 70-minute mark, the game witnessed some drama as the Jamshedpur equalizer got denied by the referee. The ball ended into the back of the net following a set piece situation, Jamshedpur started celebrations as they thought they had an own goal, but the referee calls a foul for Hartley’s challenge on the goalkeeper. But Jamshedpur didn’t give up, and in the 85th minute, they got the equalizer, with the defender Eze scoring his first goal for the club. Substitute William Lalnunfela laid the ball for the Nigerian, who blasted the ball into the back of the net. In the dying minutes of the game, Hyderabad head coach Manuel Marquez got to send off orders for entering the pitch and that made the game more dramatic.
CONCLUSION
Hyderabad FC had an upper hand in the game but failed to replicate that in the scoreline, Jamshedpur FC on the other side is still to taste victory in the campaign but will be happy to win one point at the death from this encounter. HFC now has 5 points from 3 games as they are let to lose a game in the campaign. Hyderabad’s 22-year-old midfielder Mohammed Yasir won the hero of the match award for the game while Jamshedpur fullback Laldinliana Renthlei won the winning pass of the match award. Along with them, we witnessed some fine performances from young talents like Liston Colaco, Hitesh Sharma, Issac Vanmalsawma, and Akash Mishra in this battle, where Mishra finished the game with more passes than anybody else tonight.
