ISL 2023-24: Bengaluru FC keep Playoffs hopes alive with late-goal win over HYD

Sivasakthi Narayanan scored in the 87th minute as Bengaluru FC bounced back to winning ways with a captivating 21 victory against Hyderabad FC in the Indian Super League ISL 202324 on Saturday making more memorable Sunil Chhetrirsquos 150th appearance in the league played at the Sree Kanteerava StadiumEarlier in the first match of the day Odisha FC and Mohun Bagan Super Giant played out a goalless draw in Bhubaneswar to maintain topoftable excitement Saturdays doubleheader kept up the suspense as Bengaluru maintained their chances of making the playoffsAlso Read IND vs ENG 4th Test India fight back England lead surges to 166 runs at tea on Day 3There was a lot of attention on the second match of the day and Bengaluru 18 have moved to the eighth spot with this victory just two short of the sixthplaced Jamshedpur FC thus helping keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the PlayoffsFor a majority of the match it appeared that their bid for victory would take a jolt especially with the deadlock not being broken 70 minutes into the match However the final 20 minutes saw an intense backandforth battle that saw the struggling Hyderabad FC trail equalise and fall back in the proceedings again to return home with no points to their nameIt all started with Spanish midfield maestro Javi Hernandez taking the initiative to open the scoring Having not conceded any goal for such a major chunk of the match Hyderabad FC arguably sensed a reasonable chance to get their first win of the game under their beltThat backfired immediately with Hernandez recovering possession near the halfway mark distributing the ball to Oliver Drost on the left flank whilst the former steered ahead to get into the boxAlso Read English spinner Jack Leach to undergo left knee surgeryDrost played the perfect foil delivering a slick delivery right on Hernandezrsquos path who smashed the ball in the top left corner in one go It was an impeccable display of finishing for the attacking midfielder who has pulled off some spectacular efforts this season alreadyHowever Hyderabad FC found their calling soon here with Makan Chothe showing valour in attempting a rather outrageous shot from outside of the box that took Gurpreet Singh Sandhu abackThe goalkeeper was unable to keep hold of the ball firmly with it dropping out of his palms to land in Ramhlunchhungarsquos path on the right flank Ramhlunchhunga pounced upon the rebound hammering the ball into the back of the net to bring curtains down to Hyderabad FCrsquos unfortunate streak of going five games without scoring a goalHowever homegrown talent Sivasakthi Narayanan ensured that Bengaluru FC had the last laugh On a night when his skipper Chhetri brought up his historic feat Sivasakthi produced a winner in the 87th minute that brought Bengaluru to its feet and assured the supporters that their future was in the right handsPossessing the ball on the left flank Sivasakthi worked his way past his Hyderabad FC markers whilst Chhetri waited for the ball inside the box The youngster decided otherwise though launching a shot from outside of the box straight past Laxmikant Kattimani bringing three points to the beloved fans of the BluesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever