Guwahati: Zequinha’s 73rd minute goal, that helped defending champions ATK sneak out a 1-0 victory against NorthEast United earned ‘special’ liking from head coach Teddy Sheringham, who was delighted by the atmosphere at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium here on Friday.
The victory took them to sixth, just four points adrift of the third and fourth placed FC Pune and Goa on 16 points and they play the former next. NorthEast meanwhile remained ninth, with just seven points after nine round of matches.
The ‘Highlanders’ came second best on the day in almost every department but were nowhere close to that thunderous strike from the Portugese Zequinha, his second in the league from a TP Rehenesh save.
Robin Singh who started just his foutth game in the competition shot straight at the NorthEast custodian after beating Sambinha in the run. Rehenesh parried it away but only as far as Zequinha who made a great use of the little space available to rifle a volley, one that was too sweet to not go in.
The Portugese had till then fired two above the bar from favourable positions yet he was the visitors’ best man on the pitch in a match that was an end-to end affair.
If the first-half was a slow affair the second started with a bang, when Danilo Lopes made easy work of ATK captain Figueras Montel, before rifling one from outside the box that forced goalkeeper Debjit to be at his best, getting a fingertip to parry the ball away for a corner.
Montel though made his presence felt on the other end, with his header just sailing inches wide of the bar. He then released Zequinha on the left for a cross to Robin, whose header was well handled by Rehenesh.
A former Porto youth product the Portugese regularly cut-in from the left, like he so often does forcing Rehenesh into a few close saves before breaking the deadlock with a goal, that few imagined would happen.
NorthEast assistant coach Eelco Schattorie however felt “the goal they scored was a ball we gave away twice” and that a 0-0 draw would have been a fair result. But for a side that failed to stitch together a pass giving the ball away on every second touch, the defeat of FC Goa over the weekend looked a distant result against a struggling ATK side.
But for everything said and done, it was visitors who dominated the early exchanges as NorthEast failed to get a touch on the ball in the opening 10 minutes. It was only after Malemngamba Meitei started showing his ability to run with the ball and deliver, that the ‘Highlanders’ grew in confidence going forward.
His crosses regularly troubled Debjit on goal, while the latter’s howler almost cost ATK when he needlessly came out for a ball which Tom Thorpe was seeing off – got into a mess with his teammate – before Thorpe cleared away.
Zequinha’s run in the 25th minute where he beat Nirmal Chhetri before firing a shot that went above the bar was ATK’s first of the night but one that perhaps opened up the home side’s defence more wide after some fruitful play by both the Portugese and Jayesh Rane on both the flanks.