Punjab FC returned home after a disastrous start to the season and it didn’t change their fortune match as they played a 1-1 draw against Hyderabad FC in New Delhi.
It was Jonathan Alonso Moya’s late strike in the injury time – 90+8 minutes which broke the hearts of 3946 fans present at Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium.
Punjab were playing their second game at Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium and it was quite evident that their recent performances have not made any impact amongst the fans. Apart from the lower stand behind the dugout, it was all empty at JLN stadium. Meanwhile, some passionate fans were supporting the home side in some traditional way – dhols and chants of Punjab-Punjab which echoed around the whole stadium.
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And it seemed like the ISL and Punjab team management had the idea about the low interest as the majority of seats had dust all over them.
Hyderabad kicked off the game but Punjab didn’t take much time to take control of the game. They made some good chances at the start of the game as the crowd also backed them well with some chants of ‘Lets Go Punjab Lets Go’, some ‘Ole-Ole’ chants here and there and then they shifted to Punjab-Punjab’ and all of a sudden switched back to ‘Lets Go Punjab Lets Go’ which echoed around the stadium. At one point it seemed like fans had yet not finalised what their slogan should be.
Punjab’s number 8 Madhi Talal led the charge of attacking force for Punjab in the first half but the forwards were not clinical in front of goal. There were also some desperate attempts from outside the box to break the deadlock but it just didn’t work for them.
The first genuine chance of the match came in the 16th minute with Hyderabad’s Felipe Da Silva missing the shot
The visitors also made Punjab nervous in the 20th minute as Aaren D Silva attempted a left-footed strike which missed the goal by the barest of margin.
Meanwhile, Juan Mera also had a chance to put Punjab on the top in the 27th minute when he showed some trickery with his brilliant dribbling to cut past two defenders only to miss the target in the end.
Both teams went back to the locker room with their heads high at half-time.
The second half began on a more aggressive note as both teams decided to get more physical to stop the opposition.
It was more of a war in the last 30 minutes as both teams displayed the desperation and fight to get their first win of the season.
In the 77th minute of the game, substitute Brandon Vanlalremdika scored a goal which made fans jump out of their seat but it turned out to be off-side to make it a pin-drop silence.
Hyderabad slowed down after that and Punjab took advantage of it with Juan Mera scoring the brilliant goal from his left foot in the 82nd minute which put the fans on cloud 9 as this time it was the chants of ‘Juan Mera’ which echoed loudly.
However, Moya changed the script completely in the dying minutes of the game and stole the win from the home side who were in complete shock. They tried to pull themselves up in the final seconds with an attempt on the goal but it turned out to be offside.
With the draw, Punjab remained at the bottom of the table with three draws and four losses in 7 matches.
Thangboi Singto Addresses Hyderabad’s Woes in Front of Goals
After the match, Singto admitted that Hyderabad were not 100 per cent on the field as the players had not completely recovered from their last game which they played on Saturday against Bengaluru.
“You control the game better when you are mentally and physically sharper and fitter. Today we were not at the level because we just played two days ago and the boys didn’t have the time to get a full recovery. But no excuses We need to work in order on creating those positions and converting those chances into goals,” he added.
Talking about the lack of finishing, Singto asserted that his players need to create more chances and the forwards have to put themselves in a position where they can convert them into goals.
“We had more shots, we had possession We had more percentage of passing success, we had more corners but it doesn’t help if you don’t score the winning goal. I think we still need to work as a team on the attacking third of the pitch. We need more creativity and more finesse when we have clinical chances going forward,” he explained.
“What do we do? We need to keep working. We need to keep working on that 6-18 yard box where the player has to just finish the chances,” he concluded.
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