Defending champions Bengaluru FC registered a narrow 1-0 win over ATK in the first leg of their Hero Indian Super League semi-final clash at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Sunday. Deshorn Brown's opportunistic strike (31st minute) proved to be the difference in what was a closely-fought first leg battle. Edu Garcia kicked off an even contest with a shot from outside the box that went wide in the second minute. Bengaluru soon made their presence felt when Dimas Delgado whipped a dangerous ball into the box. Rahul Bheke rose the highest inside the box but his header flew inches over the crossbar.

ATK's dangerous duo, Roy Krishna and David Williams, combined well to put the ball into the net in the 17th minute. Krishna found his teammate with a well-timed lob in behind the Blues defence. Williams handled the ball as he brought it down and struck it brilliantly past Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, but the goal was eventually disallowed due to the handball.