AFC Cup: Pune FC 2-5 Tampines Rovers - Red Lizards on the brink of elimination

Photo Credit: Pune FC

Pune FC 2 (Mustapha 12, D’Souza 14)

Tampines Rovers 5 (Mrdakovic 5, Jamil 44, Duric 57, 68, Mustafic pen 60)

Pune FC: Amrinder Singh; Mumtaz Akhtar (Gurjinder Kumar 63), Anas Edathodika (Zohmingliana Ralte 38) , Calum Angus, Salam Ranjan Singh; Gabriel Fernandes, Arata Izumi, Douhou Pierre (Thongkhosiem Haokip 64), Anthony D’Souza; Riga Mustapha; Mirjan Pavlovic

Tampines Rovers: Hyrulnizam Juma’at; Anaz Hadee, Shariff Allapitchay, Norihiro Kawakami, Ismadi Mukhtar (Matthew Abraham 76), Jamil Ali; Fahrudin Mustafic, Shahdan Sulaiman, Luis Closa (Noh Alam Shah 70) ; Aleksandar Duric (Ang Zhiwei 75), Miljan Mrdakovic

Pune FC suffered a 5-2 home defeat against Singapore champions Tampines Rovers in a Group H encounter of the AFC Cup on Tuesday evening.

Miljan Mrdakovic gave the visitors an early lead but goals from Riga Mustapha and Anthony D’Souza put Pune in front. However the hosts couldn’t hold on to their lead until the halftime break as just before the interval Jamil Ali equalised. Pune’s inexperience at this level was exposed in the second period as a brace from Aleksandar Duric and a penalty strike from Fahrudin Mustafic gave Tampines an emphatic victory.

The result keeps Pune at the bottom of the group and even wins in the final two matchdays may not be enough to seal a knockout berth.

Pune coach Mike Snoei named a very attacking lineup as midfielder Mumtaz Akhtar started in the right back slot with Douhou Pierre and Arata Izumi in central midfield. Mustapha was supporting lone striker Mirjan Pavlovic with Gabriel Fernandes and D’Souza on the two wings.

Tampines Rovers started with a 3-5-2 system where Paraguayan playmaker Luis Closa was operating just behind strikers Mrdakovic and Duric.

The visitors had the first real chance of the game as Closa did brilliantly to pick out Mrdakovic inside the box but the Serbian uncharacteristically couldn’t hit the target. A minute later though Mrdakovic headed home Jamil’s excellent cross to score his tenth goal of the campaign.

Pune produced a great response with Mustapha nearly breaking the offside trap. That was a warning signal for Tampines as from the very next attack Douhou played Mustapha clean through on goal and the former Bolton man found the back of the net after rounding Tampines custodian Hyrulnizam Juma’at. Tampines defender Anaz Hadee made a great effort to clear the ball off the line but eventually failed to do so.

Two minutes later D’Souza put the hosts in front after a brilliant individual effort. The winger produced a great run on the left flank, went past a couple of Tampines defenders before cutting into his right foot and scoring past Juma’at with a powerful shot.

At 2-1, Pune were full of confidence and enjoyed a great spell of pressure with Juma’at having to come out and make a good save from D’Souza.

Tampines wasted a great opportunity to equalise when Closa passed to an unmarked Duric in the box but the 43-year-old’s right-footer went way off target.

Pune’s Australian-Croation forward Mirjan Pavlovic had two golden chances to increase his team’s lead. First his goal-bound effort was cleared off the line by Hadee and then minutes later he hit his shot straight at Juma’at after being played through by Douhou.

Crucially Pune central defender Anas Edathodika went off with an injury and those missed opportunities proved to be costly as just before the interval Jamil equalised with a half-volley. The winger was found inside the box after a quickly taken long freekick from Mustafic as the Pune defence was caught napping.

The match remained an open contest in the second half also with Pavlovic and Mustafic going close. Tampines though looked more dangerous going forward and they went back in front after a quick break on the left with Closa’s pass slotted into the back of the net by Duric.

A few minutes later, Pune conceded a penalty as Duric’s cross was handled inside the box by Zohmingliana Ralte. Mustafic successfully converted the spotkick to give the visitors a two-goal cushion.

Snoei made a double substitution as he introduced Gurjinder Kumar and Thongkhoseim Haokip but Duric put the game to bed by netting his second and Tampines’ fifth following a quick counter attack with Jamil playing a delightful final pass.

Despite having a mountain to climb at 2-5, Pune kept attacking with Pavlovic hitting the woodwork with a shot from outside the box. Tampines also had chances to score further but were wasteful while Pune’s Gurjinder squandered a good chance from close range.