KOCHI: ATK Mohun Bagan reverted to their signature style of snatching late 1-0 wins as an 85th-minute strike from Roy Krishna left Jamshedpur FC stunned in their ISL encounter at the Fatorda Stadium on Sunday.
The win has helped the Kolkata outfit overtake Mumbai City FC and go top of the table for the first time in a long time while Jamshedpur's quest for top four took a serious hit as they remain stranded at sixth in the table with just two games to go.
A lot was at stake for both sides and the two teams took a cautious approach early on and kept cancelling each other out in the middle of the park.
In their previous game against Bengaluru FC, Bagan had virtually killed the game off in the first half itself with some breathtaking display of attacking football. Against the Red Miners, the Kolkata outfit resembled their old self where they allow the opposition time on the ball and hit them on the counter.
There was little to no goalmouth action in the first half with both goalkeepers not being called into action.
Jamshedpur enjoyed a lot of possession but rarely troubled an organised Bagan defence. Owen Coyle decided to go with David Grande instead of Nerijus Valskis and the Spanish striker kept the Bagan defence busy but hardly threatened the likes of Sandesh Jhingan and Tiri.
The only real opportunity of the half fell to Jhingan from a set-piece right before half-time. Marcelinho swung in a beautiful corner into Jhingan's direction who had a free header. The Indian centre-back totally mistimed his jump as the chance went begging and the two teams went into half-time level.
The second half followed a similar story and it was a cagey affair with tackles flying in and a lot of physical acts involved.
Coyle introduced Valskis close to the 60th-minute mark in the hope of a breakthrough. Bagan were happy to wait for their opportunities and they had a great opportunity in the 62nd minute when a lightning-quick counter-attack saw Krishna test Jamshedpur keeper TP Rehenesh. Jamshedpur tried to stretch the Bagan defence with long balls from the back but Valskis and the wingers were not able to get exploit them as Bagan kept winning the aerial battles against the Jamshedpur frontline.
At the other end, Jamshedpur's centre-back pairing of Stephen Eze and Peter Hartley kept a close watch on the likes of Marcelinho, Krishna, David Williams and Manvir Singh.
It looked like Bagan were playing with the handbrakes on but Habas' teams over the years have shown time and again that they score a goal out of nowhere and Jamshedpur had to be on their guard until the final whistle.
Meanwhile, Valskis almost gave Jamshedpur the lead in the 80th minute when his thumping header was kept out by a stunning save from Arindam Bhattacharja. Bagan went onto land a sucker punch just five minutes later when Williams picked out the run of Krishna with a clipped ball and the Fiji international struck a brilliant left-foot strike to turn the game on its head. For Habas, it was another tactical master-piece as his team secured another late victory.