Margao (Goa): Ten-man Atletico de Kolkata (ATK) defended dourly to grind out a 1-1 draw against hosts FC Goa in an India Super League (ISL) match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Wednesday.
Title holders ATK led 1-0 at half time. They were reduced to 10 man when striker Baljit Singh Sahni was given marching orders in the 62nd minute.
While ATK struck in the 13th minute through a spectacular&nbsp;Arata Izumi volley, it was Keenan Almeida's cracking right footer that restored parity for Zico's men in the 81st minute&nbsp;in an ill-tempered match. Both ATK and FC Goa now have three points from two games&nbsp;with a win and a draw to show for their efforts.
ATK's Baljit Sahni was shown the first red-card of the&nbsp;season after head butting opposition defender Gregory Arnolin&nbsp;bringing memories of the last season when the latter was&nbsp;involved in an identical incident with the then ATK striker&nbsp;Fikru Teferra.
It was a match that was dominated by the Goan outfit as&nbsp;they created more opportunities throughout the match but in&nbsp;the end were able to manage only a point.
While Japanese of Indian origin Arata, who has played for&nbsp;the Indian national team won the man of the match for his goal, the best player on the turf was FC Goa's left-half Jofre&nbsp;Mateu, who was like a livewire with his assists and pinpoint&nbsp;crosses.
It was ATK who got the lead in the 13th minute against&nbsp;the run of play. Winger Javi Lara floated one from the wide&nbsp;right inside the box for Iain Hume. Before the Goa defence&nbsp;could get their shape right, Arata came from behind with&nbsp;reflex snap volley that beat a diving goalie Elinton Andrade.
However, that was the only positive move that ATK managed&nbsp;as FC Goa came back with a lot of vigour.
Skipper Lucio was seen on the overlap while Jofre fed&nbsp;some great balls for Reinaldo and Le Moura upfront.&nbsp;However, Oftense Nato and Denzel Franco had a great game&nbsp;at the back as they foiled their bid to score in their&nbsp;defensive third.&nbsp;
Buoyed by the leveller, Goa went for the kill. They even got seven minutes as additional time to score the match-winning goal but couldn't pull it off.

Defending champions Atletico de&nbsp;Kolkata defended doggedly with 10 men as they held FC Goa to a&nbsp;1-1 draw in an the Indian Super League football encounter

ISL 2: Ill-tempered match sees 10-man Atletico de Kolkata eke out 1-1 draw against FC Goa

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Defending champions Atletico de&nbsp;Kolkata defended doggedly with 10 men as they held FC Goa to a&nbsp;1-1 draw in an the Indian Super League football encounter

ISL 2: Ill-tempered match sees 10-man Atletico de Kolkata eke out 1-1 draw against FC Goa

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Home / Sports / Football / Article / ISL 2: Ill-tempered match sees 10-man Atletico de Kolkata eke out 1-1 draw against FC Goa

ISL 2: Ill-tempered match sees 10-man Atletico de Kolkata eke out 1-1 draw against FC Goa

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