Bengaluru: Joel Sunday was once again the star of the evening as his first half double, along with a David Lalrinmuana free-kick, saw Aizawl FC enter the semifinals of the Federation Cup at the expense of the defending champions Bengaluru FC on Tuesday.
The Mizoram side showed due diligence and counter attacking prowess to defeat an off-colour Garden City side 3-2 in the second leg, and 5-3 on aggregate, at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium which harboured strong support for both sides.
CK Vineeth and Sunil Chhetri scored on either side of the break for the home side.
There was little to separate the two sides in the early exchanges as both teams went punch for punch. The away side struck in the 26th minute when Sunday collected the ball from Alfred Jaryan and turned Nishu Kumar inside out before slamming his effort into the roof of the net.
The hosts responded immediately with a goal just two minutes later. A poor clearance saw the ball fall to Vineeth who brought it down on his chest before firing on the turn to draw parity on the night.
But whatever hopes the I-League champions gained from the leveller was dealt a massive blow when Sunday struck his, and his team’s, second in the 37th minute to finish off a flowing move.
With a fair bit of possession in hand Jaryan once again carved open the defence with a deft back flick that found the diagonal inside run of Sunday, who did the rest with aplomb. With the aggregate reading 4-2 and heavily skewed in the direction of Aizawl due to the two away goals, BFC head coach Ashley Westwood brought on Daniel Lalhlimpuia in place of defensive midfielder A Malsawmzuala five minutes before the break.
John Johnson then almost struck for the hosts but his header was tipped onto the bar by Soram Poirei in goal. The day went from bad to worse for the JSW-owned side in the second half when Aizawl scored their third of the night four minutes after the restart. Curtis Osano, who had a rather forgettable game at central defence, was the culprit as he wrestled Sunday into the ground just outside the box setting the stage for Lalrinmuana to curl in a freekick to make it 3-1.
Westwood introduced winger Udanta Singh and Lalchuanmawia into the fray to add more attacking impetus and his team did force save after save from Poirei but failed to convert the flurry of chances they carved for themselves.
Chhetri pulled one back from the penalty spot in the 74th minute but other than add more respectability to the result, it was too little too late.
