In the 2nd leg of the Hero Indian Super League 2nd semi-final, ATK Mohun Bagan dethroned NorthEast United after a tough fight from the 'Highlander' in both the legs of the match as the 1st leg ended in a 1-1 draw after Sylla equalized in the added time.
ATK Mohun Bagan beat NorthEast United, setup Grand Final against Mumbai City FC
The 2nd leg of the 2nd semi-final between ATK Mohun Bagan and NorthEast United saw the former pick up the win a 2-1 scoreline (3-2 in aggregate). David Williams and Manvir Singh scored for the Mariners while VP Suhair was on target for NorthEast United.
Javi Hernandez had the first chance to break the deadlock inside the first three minutes of the match. ATK Mohun Bagan kept on bombing some fiery shots with the aim of taking an early lead.
But the first goal came from the feet of David Williams in the 38th minute after Roy Krishna's ball was greatly received by the Aussie and he gave Subhashis Roy no chance.
The first half ended with a chance for NorthEast United to equalize but the crossbar denied them the goal and ATK Mohun Bagan went into the tunnel with a 1 goal lead and an aggregate score of 2-1.
NorthEast United really needed the equalizer as quick as possible, thus, they kept on pressuring the ATK Mohun Bagan defence but it was proving difficult to get past them, even though they managed to shake off the defence on several occasions.
While NorthEast United didn't take advantage of the chances they created, but Manvir Singh did. It was again a nice through ball from Roy Krishna which found Manvir Singh making a great run. Manvir received the ball nicely and kept on running inside forward into the NorthEast United box and in the process, he beat Gurjinder Kumar and Mashoor Shereef and ended off the move with a great left-footed curler which gave ATK Mohun Bagan the all needed 2 goal lead.
But NorthEast United fought back and due to the mistake of goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharya, VP Suhair got 1 back after Arindam's try to clear a corner was missed and it hit the crossbar, but Suhair was there to head it home.
Then in the 81st minute, Subhasish Bose was conceded a found on Idrissa Sylla and the referee took no time to award a penalty kick to the 'Highlanders' but Luis Machado hit it over the crossbar and Arindam didn't had any problem at all.
With this, the hopes of playing in the final for the first time for 'The Highlanders' ended, but it is the 'Mariners' who have made it to the final in their first season in Indian Super League.
The Mariners will play against Mumbai City FC on 13th March in the grand finale. The Islanders are considered favourite for this match after they defeated ATK Mohun Bagan twice this season. If they manage to beat ATK Mohun Bagan for the third time this season, they will become the only team to win the double this season after they won the League Winners' Shield earlier by topping the league table beating ATK Mohun Bagan.
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