ISL 2018-19: Miku, Erik Paartalu's goals propel Bengaluru FC to victory against Steve Coppell's ATK

Kolkata: A magical Miku helped Bengaluru FC to fightback and secure a fine 2-1 win over ATK in an Indian Super League football fixture on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_5482251” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Miku celebrates his goal with teammates against ATK. ISL[/caption] Playing in front of home crowd at the Saltlake Stadium, ATK got off to a positive start with Komal Thatal giving them an early 14th minute lead with his maiden goal. But it was Miku who hauled Bengaluru FC level on the stroke of half-time (45+3rd) with a stunning freekick. ATK suffered an injury blow to their key forward Kalu Uche in the first-half as they looked desperate to firm up their attacking prowess. But Bengaluru FC held on to the momentum given by Miku with Erik Paartalu scoring the winning goal from a side-volley in the 47th minute to hand ATK their third defeat from four matches at home. For the last year’s runners up Bengaluru FC, this was their third win over ATK from as many matches. It also halted the Kolkata franchise’s three-match unbeaten run this season. With 10 points, Bengaluru FC are now one point behind leaders Northeast United FC with one match in hand. ATK, on the other hand, have seven points from six matches. Everton Santos with a through ball set it up for the 18-year-old youngster to give ATK fine lead. With BFC playing a highline, they will have themselves to blame as the winger from Sikkim slipped past a clueless Nishu Kumar. India’s number one Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was a little towards his right as Thatal held his nerves to slam it to the left of the BFC goalkeeper with his left-footer. That was also ATK’s first goal against the last year’s runners-up from three exchanges as they could not have asked for a better start. A goalkeeping brilliance from ATK’s Arindam Bhattacharya followed when he came to the rescue of his team and thwarted a thunderbolt header from Miku minutes later. But it was difficult to keep the Venezuelan at bay for a long time as at the stroke of the break he equalised with a peach of a strike from a freekick which looked dubious from TV replays. It was Gerson Viera who seemed to have fouled Miku on the edge of the box in the first half injury time and the Venezuelan making full use of it. Playing one-two with Dimas Delgado, Miku curled past the wall with Bhattacharya in no sight of the ball before it went past him to the top corner. During the match, ATK suffered a setback when one of their key forwards Kalu Uche sustained an injury after being brought down by Albert Serran in the 39th minute. The Nigerian was stretchered off the field as coach Steve Coppell was seen in extreme disappointment. Riding high on the equaliser, Bengaluru FC returned after the break to snatch the lead from yet another freekick with Paartalu on strike this time. Delgado’s shot was cleared away but the ball remained in the danger zone of inside the box. Paartalu got the ball from a melee and smashed it with a half-volley into the back of the net.