Naorem Roshan Singh
Credit: X/@bengalurufc
Bengaluru FC earned a slender 1-0 win over Punjab FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Friday.
With this win, the Blues have taken a four-point lead at the top of the table.
The clean sheet also means Bengaluru FC have now set a new record for most minutes without conceding from the start of an ISL season (481 minutes and counting) overtaking Jamshedpur FC (389 minutes at the start of 2017-18 season).
Gerard Zaragoza broke his own record of four clean-sheets that the team created under his watch last season, courtesy of this outcome.
A solitary goal from Naorem Roshan Singh was enough to hand Zaragoza’s side their fourth victory of the season. Punjab FC tried their luck mostly from distance, often missing the target.
Bengaluru FC’s first positive move came in the 10th minute, when Roshan found himself at the end of a through ball. But before the full-back could conjure some magic, Khaiminthang Lhungdim came to Punjab FC’s rescue.
Ten minutes later, the Blues came up with another chance. Rohit Danu played a pass onto Edgar Mendez’s feet. Mendez then laid it off to Roshan. The latter took some extra time on the ball and his shot was successfully blocked by Suresh Meitei.
Finally in the 43rd minute, the deadlock was broken. Jorge Pereyra Diaz’s cross from inside the 18-yard area itself took a deflection to fall into the path of Roshan. The left-back didn’t hesitate to try his luck and came back with a stunning goal. Nikhil Prabhu tried to restore parity from distance before the half-break. However, his shot was quite some distance from the target.
In the 50th minute, the Blues could have found their second goal of the evening. Jorge Pereyra Diaz played in a ball to Sunil Chhetri who laid it off for Alberto Noguera. The Spaniard’s curling effort, meanwhile, wasn’t on target.