FATORDA: Jordan Murray came off the bench to score the winner as Jamshedpur FC showed character of the highest order to edge past NorthEast United 3-2 and stay one point away from a maiden semifinal berth, in the ISL at the Nehru Stadium in Fatorda on Friday.
Seiminlen Doungel (35th) gave Jamshedpur the lead before Greg Stewart (59th) made it 2-0 in the second half. But in the space of two minutes, Ralte (59th) and Marcelinho (67th) found the back of the net twice to level matters but in the end, Murray came on and scored for the third time for the Red Miners to underline their tag as one of the contenders for the League Shield and the title this season.
Jamshedpur now have 34 points from 17 matches and will need just one point to ensure a semifinal spot. They have a game in hand to league leaders Hyderabad who have played 18 matches and have 35 in their kitty. For NorthEast United, all is lost and a defeat means they are rooted to 10th place with 13 points from 19 games. They take on wooden spooners SC East Bengal in their final game of the season.
Owen Coyle’s team were creating chance after chance and finally broke the deadlock just after the cooling break. From a Ricky Lallawmawma throw-in, Mobashir Rahman found an unmarked Doungel with a brilliant cross at the far post with the striker calmly heading home past Michu who should have done better at his near post.
