Jamshedpur, April 3 (IANS) Javi Hernández struck in the injury time as Jamshedpur FC defeated Mohun Bagan Super Giant 2-1 in the first leg of their semifinal fixture in the Indian Super League (ISL) 2024-25 at the JRD Tata Sports Complex here on Thursday night.
The Khalid Jamil-coached side held merely 26.9% of the possession against the League Shield Winners in this match. However, they were efficient in converting their opportunities, scoring twice from the four shots they took on target, with the winner coming in from Javi Hernandez in injury time.
An eventful start to the first half saw Jamshedpur FC gain an advantage in the contest, riding on the aerial prowess of Javi Siverio and Stephen Eze.
The towering defender’s awareness inside the 18-yard box saw him deliver a headed pass to Siverio, stationed at extremely close range in the 24th minute. The Spaniard had to simply nod the ball into the bottom right corner as the MBSG defence was unable to thwart the link-up play, thus conceding a vital lead to the Red Miners.
Mohun Bagan Super Giant sparked their intent almost immediately, though, moving cohesively in tandem to ask questions to the Jamshedpur FC backline. Greg Stewart’s clinical pass was met by Alberto Rodriguez inside the penalty area, and though the defender did well to trap the delivery, he could only rattle the crossbar with his eventual effort.
MBSG had their decisive moment in front of the goal in the 37th minute, courtesy of an impeccable free kick by Jason Cummings. The striker has donned a host of roles in the current campaign, often coming off the bench to capitalise upon the tired legs of the opposition and bag late goals.
On Thursday night, was a tad different though, as he stepped up on set-piece duties and buried the opportunity with tremendous precision into the top right corner with his left foot to equalise the scores.
The visitors began the second half with similar momentum, as Anirudh Thapa served Stewart a well-weighted ball on the left side of the box, which the former Jamshedpur FC star could not dispatch into the back of the net due to a weakened final effort in the 51st minute.
Just before the hour mark, they aimed to maximise Rodriguez’s aerial abilities with Liston Colaco delivering a lethal lateral ball that the defender got to the end of but eventually misdirected to the left side of the goal.
In the 71st minute, Colaco trusted Asish Rai to hammer a shot in from distance, but the latter’s right-footed effort from the right side of the field did not find itself heading on target.
Though Jamshedpur FC spent a significant chunk of the second session absorbing pressure, they did find the second goal in their trademark style after a fast break in the added time.
The Red Miners carved open the MBSG structure with a string of passes that was executed flawlessly. The sequence capped off with Ritwik Das finding Javi Hernández in a pocket of space in the centre of the box that the Spaniard shot high into the centre of the net to grab his side an important advantage going into the next match.
The two sides will next play in the second leg of their semifinal fixture in Kolkata on Monday.
–IANS
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