The first leg of the ISL semi-final was held at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur
Hyderabad: Jamshedpur FC recorded a hard-fought 2-1 win against Mohun Bagan Super Giant in the first leg of the ISL semi-final at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur on Thursday.
An eventful start to the first half saw Jamshedpur FC garner the 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.
MBSG had their decisive moment in front of the goal in the 37th minute, courtesy of an impeccable free kick from 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.
Tonight 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 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 semi-final fixture in Kolkata on April 7.
The result: Jamshedpur FC 2 (Javi Siverio 24’, Javi Hernández 90+1’) bt Mohun Bagan Super Giant 1 (Jason Cummings 37’).
