BENGALURU: Effiong Nsungusi's brace sunk Bengaluru FC, as they were handed a 0-2 loss by Punjab FC in the Indian Super League at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Friday.
Blues' head coach Renedy Singh named the same playing XI from the previous draw at home to NorthEast United. After a cagey opening 20 minutes, Punjab FC broke the deadlock thanks to Nsungusi. He capitalised on a good cross from Manglenthang Kipgen. He rose above everyone else to fire a header in at the near post.
Punjab FC doubled their lead 10 minutes later as Nsungusi scored his second with a powerful shot off his left foot from the edge of the box to fire it past a diving Gurpreet Singh Sandhu. An intense battle followed for the rest of the first half, with Punjab FC taking a 2-0 lead into the break. The second half saw Renedy make 3 changes to his lineup with Meetei, Kuziev, and Sunil Chhetri coming on to replace Sana, Suresh, and Sivasakthi. Bengaluru FC came close to pulling one back, as a good release pass from the midfield saw Ryan Williams break into space on the right flank, and put in an excellent low cross for Sunil Chhetri, but the veteran Indian fired it over the goal.
Around the 69th minute, Punjab FC Kipgen walked off the field with a limp. The remainder of the match saw neither team change the scoreline further.
This marks Punjab FC's first win of the season.
Punjab FC coach Panagiotis Dilmperis was humble in victory. "“I am really impressed by the way BFC played in the match They kept the ball low, which is very uncommon in Indian football,” he said.
For the hosts, it would be a tough loss to digest, considering that this is their third game at home on the trot. Coach Renedy took blame for his part in the loss.
“In the first half, we were not pressing at all. If Chhetri had managed to score the goal at 57th minute, it would have been a complete game-changer. But I believe we could not press as much as we were supposed to. And I take the blame for it,” he told post-match.
He felt that Rahul Bheke missing the game has not helped them. "It was a very physical game. In the opponent, there were many big players in size, long ball. As a result, when we were pressing, half of the team was not coming up. I believe we need to improve in that position,” Singh added.
Bengaluru will take on Mohammedan SC away from home on 7th March.