The first away win of the tournament helps thevisitors wriggle out from the bottom of the table

NorthEast United FC proved the nemesis for defending champion Atletico de Kolkata once again emerging triumphant by a solitary goal to repeat the result it had registered in the first leg of the ongoing Hero ISL. Portuguese World Cupper Simao Sabrosa scored the all-important goal from a penalty in the ninth minute.
The match at the Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday saw a strange outcome where the home side made all the toil just to see the visitor walking away with the reward. With its first away win of the tournament, NEUFC ensured that it escaped from the nadir of the league position, where it had remained for some time.
Immaculate placement
NEUFC would count itself lucky for getting the early penalty that Simao scored with immaculate placement that beat the agile dive of the ATK custodian Amrinder Singh. Referee David John Gantar seemed to have missed the fact that NEUFC’s Argentine defender Carlos Lopez fell on his own in the ATK box as he tried to reach a ‘corner’ taken by Simao. The host defender Oftense Nato, who was hauled up for the foul, hardly had any incriminating touch on the former, as the television replays showed.
The hosts made repeated bids to get the equaliser after conceding the penalty, but all its efforts were nixed by luck and good defending by the visitors. NEUFC’s Venezuelan coach Cesar Farias made a vital change in the central defence, resting Frenchman Cedric Hengbert and pulled back Cameroonian midfielder Andre Bikey to partner Lopez in deep defence.
The two tall and robust defenders formed a wall in the NEUFC box making it difficult for the ATK attackers, especially Iain Hume, to get a clear sight at the goal.
ATK had a few chances to equalise but its forwards seemed to run into a jungle of legs as NEUFC employed more than half of the team to thwart the hosts’ bid.
Mohammad Rafique, who came in as late inductee in the team just before the match, set up Hume with a nice back-centre in the 38th minute. The Canadian striker’s attempted header landed on the roof of the goal.
Rafique, whose header in the final fetched ATK the title last season, made another attempt in the 41st minute but his header was not sharp enough to beat T.P. Rehenesh in the NEUFC goal.
As the host pushed more men into attack, it ran the peril of opening its own defence and allowing the rival make a few good counter-attacks. The Argentine striker Nicolas Velez could well have doubled the lead as he beat the ATK defence on a couple of occasions but failed to find the net.
ATK coach Antonio Habas went for a three-man attack, bringing in Spaniard Valdo after the break but it helped little as Lopez and Bikey played their role to perfection disallowing both Hume and Valdo on more occasions than one to preserve the scoreline for NEUFC.
The win took NEUFC to 10 points from eight matches as it tied ATK on points but remained a rung lower in the standings because of inferior goal difference.
The result: Atletico de Kolkata 0 lost to NorthEast United FC 1 (Simao 9).