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FC Pune City got back to winning ways in style with a thumping 3-0 win over the reigning ISL champions ATK at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Stadium in Pune. In doing so, the home side completed a fine double over ATK with the first leg at Kolkata ending 4-1 in Pune's favour.
Adil Khan opened the scoring on the 32nd minute courtesy a header from Marcelino's corner. Diego Carlos doubled the lead for the Stallions in the second half with his mazy solo run bamboozling the Kolkata defence to great lengths. Rohit Kumar then made it three on the night in the 77th minute, scoring with a long-range effort.
FC Pune City's assistant manager Vladica Grujic was understandably pleased with his side's performance and was ecstatic in his post-match media interaction.
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"We played a good and disciplined game. The players found a way to win and the scoreline suggests how well we did today. ATK played good football but we deserved to do a double over them," said a buoyant Grujic.
Meanwhile, ATK's man in charge Teddy Sheringham admitted that his men were the second best on the field. Teddy said, "It was a fair result. We had a sloppy start which resulted in Pune's first goal. After that, it was an uphill battle for us."
Sheringham had a lot to ponder upon because of this disappointing result, and more worryingly, a disappointing performance from the entire unit (barring Zequinha). The manager conceded that his side was simply not good enough against Pune but also sounded frustrated over the injuries and fixture congestion.
"We currently have our best Indian (Eugeneson Lyngdoh) and best foreign (Robbie Keane) player injured. It obviously makes a huge difference. We also played 7 out of our first 10 games away from home which is a huge disadvantage," continued the ATK boss.
But the good news for Kolkata is that they play their next five games consecutively at home. Sheringham reflected confidence in his boys after such a chastening defeat and maintained that his side is not out of the top four race. Meanwhile, FC Pune City's renaissance under Ranko Popovic continues as the Stallions now sit comfortably in the third position, just two points behind leaders Bengaluru FC.
