ISL 2021-22 | Jamshedpur FC move to top of the points table after narrow win over NorthEast United FC
Jamshedpur players celebrate after scoring a goal.
|(Twitter)
Jamshedpur FC went joint top of the Indian Super League standings in a dramatic style as Ishan Pandita scored a last-gasp winner to sink Northeast United FC by 3-2 on Thursday. Deshorn Brown broke the deadlock with an early strike before Jordan Murray leveled the scores with a header.
Boris Singh (56') then sent JFC into the lead with his first-ever goal in the Hero ISL. Brown (90+1') then looked to have secured a draw with a late goal until Pandita (90+3') scored the winner deep into injury time.
Highlanders got an early breakthrough as Jamaican striker Brown scored the goal in the 4th minute of the match. Suhair VP played a lovely through ball for Brown who perfectly timed his run and put the ball in the bottom left corner.
The Men of Steel missed a chance to equalize in the 14th minute when a brilliant ball was fired in from the left flank by Mobashir Rahman in the ten-yard area for Seiminlen Doungel and Murray but both failed to get their head to it.
Five minutes later, JFC wasted another chance to get on the scoresheet when forward Greg Stewart sent a ball inside the NEUFC box for Murray but he failed to keep his shot on target from close range.
JFC continued to attack and finally, in the 44th minute, got on the scoresheet when Murray rose highest to meet a Stewart free-kick and headed on target from close range to net the equaliser. Both teams went into half-time with a 1-1 scoreline.
Jamshedpur FC were unlucky not to take the lead in the 48th minute when Stewart played the ball near the box and took a shot from a narrow-angle but the Highlanders goalkeeper Mirshad Michu punched it away brilliantly.
The Highlanders' defense was all over the place in the second half, Jamshedpur FC made full use of it and took the all-important lead in the 56th minute when Boris scored a goal with the help of Murray from inside the ten-yard area.Â
In the 60th minute, a calamitous mistake was made by the NEUFC defense when goalkeeper Michu and Murray collided and the ball almost rolled into the back of the net but Patrick Floattmann made a goal line clearance. Fresh pair of legs were introduced in the 64th minute of the match by Jamshedpur FC as they replaced Seiminlen Doungel with Ritwik Das.
Murray, the Australian forward who had a fantastic outing then came close to scoring his second goal in the 66th minute but he blazed the ball over the goalkeeper. Late in the 90th minute, NEUFC striker Brown appeared to have rescued a point for his team when he scored the equaliser for the Highlanders. But NEUFC couldn’t hold on at the other end for very longer, as a goal was scored by the JFC super-sub Pandita before the final whistle.
With the win, Jamshedpur FC went level on points with Hyderabad FC and Mumbai City at the top. While NEUFC stayed among the bottom two sides. Owen Coyle’s men return to action on Thursday when they take on SC East Bengal. While Highlanders' next assignment is against FC Goa on next Friday.
