An acrobatic side-volley in injury-time by substitute Chencho Gyeltshen saved the day for Bengaluru FC (BFC) as it held host North East United FC (NEUFC) to a 1-1 draw in a Hero ISL match at the Indira Gandhi Stadium on Wednesday.
Earlier, thanks to nice coordinated move, Uruguayan winger Federico Gallego had helped NEUFC go ahead in the second half.
The Bhutanese’s last-gasp goal helped Bengaluru maintain an unbeaten run for the ninth straight game and its position on top of the standings with 23 points. The host remained in the second spot with 19 points from 10 matches.
The host had a chance in the 12th minute when Puitea released Redeem Tlang, who cut inside box from left, but the NEUFC medio could not beat goalkeeper Gurpreet Sandhu, who put his body behind the former’s attempt. The resulting corner saw Gallego sending his flag-kick deep inside the Bengaluru box for Bartholomew Ogbeche. The Nigerian forward fired a header straight into Sandhu’s hands.
A silly mistake by the NEUFC goalkeeper Pawan Kumar in the 11th minute could have given the visitor the lead. The custodian delayed his clearance, after receiving a back-pass from defender Mislav Komorski, and an alert Sunil Chhetri charged in to catch Pawan off-guard. He got a touch on the ball but could not keep it on target.
Maintaining a persistent pressure, the host got its way through in the 64th minute when Puitea located Ogbeche on top of the BFC box and the letter set up an unguarded Gallego inside the box with a nice lob. The Uruguayan wrong-footed his challenger Albert Serran and fired home a powerful drive.
Just when the host seemed to be handing Bengaluru its first defeat of the season came the acrobatic effort of Chencho, who volleyed home an assist from Chhetri to restore parity.
The result: North East United FC 1 (Federico Gallego 64) drew with Bengaluru FC (Chencho Gyeltshen 90+2) .
