Bengaluru FC failed to bag all three points as Hyderabad FC managed to score twice past goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh in the second half after going ahead 2-0 earlier in the game. The 86′ minute strike from Aridane Santana and a 90+1 minute equaliser from Fran Sandaza were enough for Hyderbad to snatch a draw in a 2-2 thriller against a disappointed Sunil Chhetri and co in the Indian Super League.
BFC lead early as Sunil Chettri’s beautiful header drifted past a helpless Hyderabad Goalkeeper as early as the 9th minute of the game. A well-crafted freekick from Cleiton Silva, directed towards Chhetri was clinical as BFC registered yet another goal from a setpiece this season. Thanks to sloppy defending from Hyderabad, Leon Augustin scored the second for Bengaluru FC marking his first full game appearance for the club. It was an error from Hitesh Sharma who played the ball straight into Augustin’s path, who sprinted past the defenders before slotting it in from the outside of his boot past goalkeeper Kattimani to make it 2-0 on the 61st minute.
Bengaluru FC were comfortably leading 2-0 until Naushad Moosa substituted Sunil Chhetri and Cleiton Silva and Hyderabad FC then started to dominate the game. Hyderabad relied heavily upon long balls, and long crosses, something which failed in the first half, but worked perfectly in the last quarter of the game as they pressed high in BFC’s half. Back to back long balls, tore apart BFC’s defence as they continued to fail to clear the ball properly.
Hyderabad managed to keep the game under control, despite failing to make any progress in the first half. They lacked creativity in the middle of the park, which was soon restored with the second-half substitution for Fran Sandaza and Rohit Danu. Aridane Santana pulled one back for Hyderabad FC soon after as Hyderbad began to press higher. Rohit Danu got the ball on the right flank and tried to cross it, but got deflected and fell perfectly for Aridane, who slotted it past for Hyderabad FC. Hyderabad managed to keep finding spaces left by Bengaluru in the final third, as they came closer in the dying minutes. Eventually, Fran Sandaza equalised for Hyderabad as he scored his first goal in the ISL this season. A whipped ball towards Sandaza in the box, who was played onside by Rahul Bheke was quite enough for him to slot it past the goalkeeper.
Hyderabad FC had 66% possession over BFC and managed to keep their attacking threat during the second half of the game. Hyderabad FC took more control of the game once they started to change their formation to a back four in the later stages of the game. Manuel Marquez put in Fran Sandaza and threw bodies further as they started to stretch the BFC defence, finding spaces and threatening in finding passing lines. Their performance in the final third was way better than they managed in the first half. BFC meanwhile shouldered much of the attacking play during the first quarter of the game, threatening the Hyderbad defence through quick interplays and counterattacks. But they failed to do the same in the second half as they pulled back more bodies into defence, which opened up the passing lines for Hyderbad in the middle.
What’s Next
Hyderabad remain fourth in the table with 19 points while BFC are still out of the playoff places; seventh with 15 points. Hyderabad meet Chennaiyin on January 31 while BFC play SC East Bengal on February 2.
