PUNE: Bharat FC beat Pune FC 1-0 in the Pune derby, courtesy of a dramatic last minute penalty from Kris Bright (89’) at the Shree Chhatrapati Balewadi Sports Complex, here, on Sunday.
The home side launched the first meaningful attack of the game in the 10th minute as Subhash Singh performed a number of step overs to outfox Pune’s Ramu and send over a deep cross which fell beautifully to Steven Dias but the 31-year old failed to capitalise on the opportunity.
Dias had another great chance to break the deadlock minutes later after latching on to a defense splitting pass but the Goa born winger only managed to test goalkeeper Amrinder Singh from a tight angle.
The visitors then mounted a great counter thanks to Edgar Marcelino who sent in a neat through ball to Darko Nikac who was clear on goal but the Montenegrin was intercepted by Bharat’s Omar Jarun who rolled the ball out of play.
The match saw its first booking midway through the first half as Pune’s Brazilian defender Luciano Sabrosa was cautioned for a ploughing tackle on Subhash Singh.
Pune thought they had a claim for penalty in the 33rd minute when Arata Izumi was brought down in the box after a great ball by Ryuji Sueoka but the referee saw no reason to point to the spot.
The first half ended with both teams failing to take the all-important lead leaving the derby goalless at the break.
The second half started with Bharat opting for a change by bringing on Tapan Maity for Steven Dias and Pune maintaining status quo to their line-up.
Gift Raikhan however brought in Nikhil Kadam in the 54th minute for Marcelino and the substitute immediately made an impact for the away side with his raw pace on the wings.
The Red Lizards nearly found the opening goal as a clever through ball found Nikac but Arindam Bhattarcharya had other ideas and the goalkeeper rushed out to nullify what was a certain goal threat for the visitors.
Kadam who had been lively since his introduction early in the second half made a brilliant run into the centre from the left in the 71st minute but his shot on goal was blocked by the opposition’s defense which had started to feel the pressure.
But Bharat made a brilliant comeback, moments later as defender Gouramangi Singh’s fierce header from a corner steered just wide off the far post leaving the away side’s defenders with their hearts in their mouth.
The match seemed to be heading towards a draw until the 89th minute when the referee pointed to the spot to hand the hosts a last minute penalty. Substitute Kris Bright made no mistake from 12 yards out to give Bharat the vital lead a minute before stoppage time.
The referee added four minutes of added time but the visitors failed to get back into the game allowing the Lions to claim full bragging rights of the second Pune Derby of the current I-League season and leap to the sixth position on the table.
