Bengaluru: CK Vineeth’s early strike ensured that Albert Roca’s stint at the helm of Bengaluru FC began on a winning note as the I-League champions etched a 1-0 win over Tampines Rovers in the AFC Cup quarterfinal first leg at a fan-devoid Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
The second leg will be played in Singapore on September 21. The home side came out with a 4-4-2 variation with Eugeneson Lyngdoh and Alwyn George playing on the flanks allowing debutants Cameron Watson and Alvaro Rubio to pull the strings from the middle for Sunil Chhetri and Vineeth.
At the back, Juan Antonio made his first appearance for the club alongside John Johnson with Rino Anto and Nishu Kumar playing the full back role.
The emphasis was clearly on a more expansive and passing game with the wide midfielders clinging to the touchline to provide width in the middle third before making diagonal moves inside in the final third to overload the penalty box.
And it was one such move that opened the scoring in the seventh minute as Chhetri, who had fired over the bar moments ago from outside the box, turned two opposition players in the centre circle and fed an onrushing Alwyn behind the defence. The midfielder bore down on the goalkeeper but a late tackle by Muhammad Jufri resulted in a the ball rolling kindly to Vineeth who had a simple task of finding the empty net, which he did despite hitting the upright.
Left to chase the game, Rovers’ task was made more difficult as Mustafic Fahrudin was stretchered off, replaced by Mohammad Afiq, in the 21st minute.
Almost doubling the lead
The Men in Blue almost doubled the lead on the half hour mark as Rino sent in one of his trademark crosses allowing Chhetri to cushion the ball into the path of Lyngdoh. But the midfielder, at full stretch, failed to get proper contact with just the keeper to beat.
The visitors didn’t even so much as have a sniff at the goal in the first half with Nishu’s deflected effort flying over the bar in the 40th minute being the last meaningful action in the first half.
The second half saw the home side make a slight reshuffle in the middle with both Watson and Rubio playing the sitting role as the home side looked to shore up the game.
The visitors did show lot more intensity with Jordan Webb and Muhammad Yasir trying to provide the spark for Billy Mehmet. But despite their commendable effort, Jermaine Pennant’s forgettable effort severely hamstrung their attack as the former Liverpool man was more often a hindrance in the middle.
With all their attacking incentive, Roca’s side almost struck on the counter as a give and go between Rino and Rubio saw the former fly at the opposition backline and find Vineeth in the box, who could only fire high after cutting onto his left foot.
The Singapore side did put the hosts under some pressure at the end without producing much in terms of goalscoring chances even as substitute Udanta Singh and Vineeth had half chances for BFC.
