JAIPUR — Martand
Raina and Gerard Artigas scored a goal each in added time and the late flourish
of goals saw Rajasthan United FC come back from a goal deficit to beat SC
Bengaluru 2-1 in their first-ever I-League encounter at the Vidhyadhar Nagar
Stadium here on Thursday. Both of Rajasthan’s goals came in injury time,
leaving Bengaluru at rock bottom in the table, a point adrift of their nearest
challengers having played a game more.
Asif OM (85’) had put the visitors in the lead late in the second
half, but Rajasthan dug deep and scored twice in injury time through Raina
(90+3’) and Artigas (90+6’), whose spot-kick made all the difference in the
end.
Jaipur became the latest addition to the list of I-League
venues and the All India Football Federation President Kalyan Chaubey was
present at the venue to witness the match, and interacted with the players
ahead of kick-off. Rajasthan United, with this win, climbed a couple of spots
on the I-League table, to sixth, with 10 points from seven matches, while SC
Bengaluru remain at the bottom with five points from as many games.
Both teams had conceded a combined 23 goals in the league
prior to this game, and so, understandably were cautious with their start,
focussed more on disrupting any imaginative attacking play rather than creating
it.
The first real chance of the game fell to the hosts' Lucas
Cabral, who spun away from his defender on the right side of the box and cut
the ball to the centre of the box. An onrushing Naoba could only blast his shot
high over the crossbar. Bishal Lama was certainly the busier of the two
goalkeepers in the first half, saving smartly from Cabral and then from William
Neihsial’s shot from outside the box. Bengalur’s registered their first shot on
target late in the half, a Thomyo Simray attempt easily parried away by James
Kithan.
Rajasthan ramped up the ante in the second half, and Cabral,
at the heart of most of their attacks, was running riot on the right wing.
Having driven in from the right, he took a shot towards the far corner from a
tight angle, only to see it bounce off the upright. It seemed like their missed
chances would hurt them as the game wore on. And so it proved, when SC
Bengaluru took the lead against the run of play, late in the game. A long throw-in
from the left was met with a perfect flick on by Ashish Jha towards the centre
of the six-yard area. OM Asif made no mistake and slammed his header into the
goal, sparking celebrations in their dugout.
Rajasthan only had themselves to blame, but to their credit,
did not let their heads drop. Almost immediately, after a melee caused by a
cross from the right, Gerard Artigas managed to poke the ball towards goal,
only to see it cleared off the line by a defender in yellow. A long period of
injury time was to come.
Bengaluru could hold neither their nerve nor the lead, in
that nervous end. A defensive error after Neihsial had crossed a hopeful ball
into the box, gifted Martand Raina the chance to slam the ball into the net
from close range in the third minute of injury time. A few minutes later things
got worse for Bengaluru.
Artigas danced his way around two defenders in the left
corner of the penalty area and was brought down illegally just as he seemed to
have made his way around them. The referee had no hesitation in pointing to the
spot. The Spanish forward, nicknamed the Hulk, smashed his spot kick in. It was
the last meaningful action of the game as Rajasthan snuck in a victory in their
first game at home.
