Bengaluru FC vs ATK Mohun Bagan: Petratos stars as Mariners come away with three points in ISL 2022-23 clash

A tight ISL 2022-23 clash at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium saw visitors ATK Mohun Bagan (ATKMB) beat Bengaluru FC (BFC) 1-0 thanks to a second-half goal from Dimitri Petratos. While the game itself was evenly-contested, the Mariners made the most of a good spell of play when the Australian forward calmly slotted past Gurpreet Singh Sandhu into the BFC goal.

It was former Bengaluru FC boy Ashique Kuruniyan’s efforts that resulted in the opportunity in the first place. Ashique did well to pickpocket midfielder Suresh Wangjam in the BFC half before passing it to Hugo Boumous, who, in turn, laid it off for Petratos to find the bottom corner.

BFC did have their opportunities to get themselves back into the game, the most notable of which fell to 21-year-old forward Sivasakthi. Some neat passing between Leon Augustine and Wangjam finally saw Javi Hernandez put the youngster through on goal with a neat flick. Sivasakthi, however, was only able to hit the crossbar with his effort.

The Blues were mostly found lacking up front with their inability to play the final ball coming back to haunt them in the end. For now, though, head coach Simon Grayson and his men have to settle for their fifth defeat of a season that has been hard on them, to say the least.

Bengaluru FC failed to capitalize on a strong start to the first half

Earlier on, a cagey first half saw the teams go into the break goalless. Although ATKMB had the majority of the possession in the half, it was Simon Grayson’s men that looked more threatening early on.

Bengaluru FC started off on the front foot, pressing high to create a couple of good chances. Javi Hernandez, in particular, looked alert early in the game. Getting away with a shot in the first minute before latching on to a stray pass from Pritam Kotal, he could only shoot straight at Vishal Kaith.

After that, it was a largely quiet half with a handful of chances going both ways but neither team was able to make much of them. ATKMB captain Kotal would make up for his earlier error though, going in for a crunching tackle on Roy Krishna to prevent him from going one-on-one with Kaith.

The win sees ATK Mohun Bagan strengthen their position in the ISL 2022-23 table, going four points clear of Kerala Blasters in fifth place. Bengaluru FC, meanwhile, continue to languish in the ninth place with seven points despite a confidence-inducing away win in Goa only last week.