ISL 2015: FC Pune top the table with a lucky 1-0 win over NorthEast United FC

The home side started the match strongly with the new strike force of Yendrick Ruiz and Adrian Mutu combining well between themselves. But after the initial 10 minutes of the game, NorthEast United came back strongly into the match and started dominating the midfield.

Nicolas Velez, who was the only shining light for the Highlanders in their last game, looked threatening and caused a lot of problems for Nick Shorey and Dharmaraj Ravanan with his pace and direct running with the ball.

Eventually, Diomansy Kamara, Francis Dadzie and Sanju Pradhan joined the party as well, and all of a sudden the NorthEast United attack seemed impressive. At the half hour mark, Cesar Farias' team created three wonderful chances, back to back, but failed to convert any of them.

Kamara showed a lot of fight on the left wing and won the ball inside the box, but Dadzie was slow to react to his dangerous cross across the goal. From the resultant corner, Sanju Pradhan tested the goalkeeper with a long drive, but Steve Simonsen was up to the mark. The third chance arrived from another corner, and this time Velez missed a free header in front of the goal.

In the middle of all the dominance by the away team, Pune created many good chances of their own as well. NorthEast United goalkeeper Gennaro Bracigliano looked shaky as he spilled a couple of easy balls and the Stallions did manage to test his confidence from time to time.

It was surprising given the course of events that both the teams went into the half-time break with a 0-0 scoreline.

After a scrappy start to the second half, when both teams misplaced a lot of passes, NorthEast United found their feet and dominated the first 15 minutes of the second half.

With his team struggling to create opportunities, David Platt brought on his trump card, Tuncay Sanli. The former Turkish international was the hero in the last game for Pune and his arrival lifted the crowd and his team, visibly.

At the other end, it was Velez providing the spark in the final third for NorthEast. Despite all his running and trickery, his finishing let him down, as the visitors could not find the goal they deserved for their display in the second half.

In fact, it was Pune who took the lead against the run of play. It was an unlucky goal to concede, as Zohmingliana Ralte headed the ball into his own net, while defending a corner. The center back had produced a solid performance at the back till that point, and it was tragic that his own goal proved to be decisive in the end.

NorthEast United pushed hard for an equalizer, but it was not to be for Velez and co, as they suffered their second defeat in as many games. But there were a lot of positives for Cesar Farias and his men to take home from his game. Despite the result, it was a solid performance by his side, and the only thing that let them down was their finishing in front of the goal.

David Platt, on the other hand, will be happy with the win, but won't be delighted with the performance his side produced. His star striker, Adrian Mutu, still looks short on fitness, and they seem to be heavily reliant on Sanli to provide the spark. However, the FC Pune City manager will be pleased with the defensive performance of his team, specially the performance of Roger Johnson and Didier Zokora.