Kolkata: Just days after registering their first ever win in the Indian Super League, debutants Jamshedpur FC tasted their first defeat of the season against a 10 men FC Pune, bringing an end to their unbeaten streak of four games at the JRD Tata Complex on Sunday. 29-year old defender Adil Khan, deployed in midfield scored the only goal for the ‘Stallions’ to notch up a hard-fought 1-0 victory, despite playing a man down for the final few minutes. The win also sailed the Ranko Popovic managed team to third position behind Bengaluru and Chennai with 9 points each, from four games.
Winless at home, Jamshedpur came out all guns blazing from the word go attacking with much more intent than the previous matches, but it was Pune who scored the opening goal from their only shot on target. A Mehtab Hossain foul in the 30th minute saw Marcelinho send in a curled free-kick, that took a defender’s head to land the ball into Adil’s feet and he made no mistake, rifling his shot inside the net.
For a team that has kept four clean-sheets in as many matches it was a sloppy goal to concede, but Jamshedpur almost immediately restored parity, when Azuka, the sides first ever goal scorer, headed in a similar ball, only to be ruled offside.
The second-half saw the home team show urgency in building up back to back attacks, with both the substitues Kervens Belfort and Ashim Biswas operating across the wings, but Pune held on despite going down to 10 men after Lalchhuanmawia Fanai was shown a second yellow for a flailing arm on Bikash Jairu.
A resurgent Jamshedpur continued attacking with both the defenders Tiri and Andre Bikey moving upfront on regular basis but Popovic’s boys defended resolutely, to bring up their second win away from home.