The teams couldn’t be separated in Pune…
ATK registered their first draw of the season as they were held 0-0 by Odisha FC on Sunday at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune.
Josep Gombau made four changes in the Odisha starting XI as he brought in Arshdeep Singh, Carlos Delgado, Martin Guedes and Daniel Lalhimpuia. Daniel’s inclusion meant the team changed their formation from the usual 4-2-3-1 to 4-4-2. Antonio Lopez Habas named an unchanged ATK starting XI.
The first half was evenly contested where both the teams had their fair share of chances to break the deadlock but failed to make an impact in the attacking third.
Daniel Lalhimpuia could have broken the deadlock in the 17th minute after he went past three ATK defenders inside the box with some silky touches but his final shot at goal was too weak to test Arindam Bhattacharya.
For ATK, Roy Krishna missed the easiest chance of the game at the stroke of halftime when Michael Soosairaj floated an inch-perfect cross across goal. The striker failed to connect properly with an empty net in front of him.
Habas handed young defender Sumit Rathi his debut as he replaced Anas Edathodika at the beginning of the second half.
Jobby Justin made his way into the pitch in the 62nd minute and could have broken the deadlock in the very next minute. The former East Bengal striker attempted a header from Javier Hernandez’s cross which that nearly went in but for Nandhakumar Sekar’s goalline clearance.
It was a drab affair in the second half as neither team could create proper goal-scoring chances. Habas tried his luck by bringing in ‘Super Sub’ Edu Garcia in the final 15 minutes but the Spaniard could not weave his magic wand.
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