The Men of Steel were back in action after conceding an unfortunate loss against Chennaiyin FC in their first game of the new year. They stepped back onto their home pitch to play against NorthEast United FC for their final game of the first half of Hero ISL 2021-22. With the aim of grabbing the 3 points, the two teams went head-to-head at the Athletic stadium, Bambolim.
The game was kicked-off by the men in red but it was NorthEast United FC who made an instant impact in the opening minutes of the game with a goal from the in-form Deshorn Brown. Suhair Vadakkepeedika from the midfield provided a perfect through ball to Brown who had taken a run into the box and placed the ball perfectly into the far post as the ball ended in the bottom left corner of the net. The goalkeeper in charge of the Jamshedpur goal, Pawan Kumar, could not stretch enough to parry it away to safety. After conceding a goal in the first 5 minutes of the game, Jamshedpur came on with attacks from all parts of the attacking third to get back in the game with an equalising goal. A couple of close chances at goal were produced by Jamshedpur but the squad was unable to get the ball in the back of the net. Just as the game entered its final few minutes before the half-time whistle, Jamshedpur FC came back into the game with the goal they were striving towards from the minute they conceded the goal. An off-the-ball push on Boris on the left flank right outside the box led to a foul given to Jamshedpur FC; Greg Stewart stepped up to take the free-kick as he lobbed the ball into the box filled with players of both teams. With the box lobbed into the middle of the box, Jordan Murray made a run towards the ball after beating his marker and connected a perfect header to the lobbed ball which flew right down the middle of the goal. As the ball headed into the top netting of the goal, the Highlander goalkeeper could not fully get his hands on the ball as it headed towards the net thus giving Jamshedpur FC the goal that they needed to come back into the game right before the first half of the game came to an end.
The second half began with the Men of Steel pushing forward as soon as the whistle was blown with attacks towards the NorthEast United goal to obtain the lead; fortunately, one of the attacks ended in success with the ball in the back of the net for Jamshedpur FC. A counter-attack was unleashed on the right flank by Len who passed it forward to Jordan in the box as he passed it in the box to Greg in the middle. Greg left the ball for Boris who was placed on Greg’s right as he pulled the trigger at goal while the defensive line-up of NorthEast United were disoriented from Greg's dummy due to which Boris received an open chance to score; he went forward to shoot the ball into the back of the net to give the Men of Steel the desired lead. The Jamshedpur side kept pushing for even more as they kept majority of the possession since the second half began and a mishap by the Highlander's defence to clear the ball away almost ended up as another goal for Jamshedpur FC. After the ball deflected off an opposition defender, Jordan slid to tap the ball into the net as the ball bounced towards the goal but Patrick Flottmann who made the error, ran quickly towards the goal to make a goal line clearance to deny the Men of Steel another goal which would have taken them to a 2 goal lead.
Both sides kept pushing with more attacks seen on both ends of the pitch till the very end of the game and just as the fixture entered its 90th minute mark, the NorthEast United side recovered with an equaliser in stoppage time as Deshorn Brown came to the rescue once again. A clever through ball which could not be intercepted by a sliding attempt by Peter Hartley, led to Brown who was already on the run as he beat the keeper with a dribble to the right and placed the ball in to bring his side back in the game in the 90th minute. Just when the both teams thought the game would end in a convincing draw, the Men of Steel stunned the Highlanders with an extra time goal in the very last minute. Greg Stewart from the right flank lobbed a dangerous ball towards the goal where the recently substituted players, Ishan Pandita and Alex Lima were positioned when the ball came in. Alex Lima controlled the ball and laid it off to Ishan in the face of the goal and the young forward made no mistakes as he finished the ball with a clean tap in to give his side a late winning goal as the NorthEast United defenders were left stunned. Right after the goal was scored, the referee blew the full-time whistle in the next play to end an action-packed game of football between the two sides.
After a stunning display of football witnessed in the Athletic Stadium, Bambolim by both teams, the Men of Steel walked away victorious and registered their first win of the year 2022 as they climbed back into the top 4 position with the 3 winning points in hand.
