ISL: Machado, Gallego score as NorthEast beat Bagan 2-1

Goals from Luis Machado and Federico Gallego helped NorthEast United beat ATK Mohun Bagan 21 in the Indian Super League ISL at the Fatorda Stadium on TuesdayGallego had a part to play in Luis Machados opener in the 60th minute which broke the deadlock before before Roy Krishna equalised for Bagan in the 72nd minute Gallegos 81st minute curler settled things for NorthEastThe first half was a cagey affair illustrated by the fact that both teams had only one shot on target each at the end of it NorthEast stuck to defending their area and did not have too many completed passes in the opposition half Bagan had their first chance in as early as the eighth minute Krishna found Javi Hernandez through a cutback but the midfielders shot was wideIt was Bagan who kept more of the ball and looked the more threatening throughout the first half but that was not to say that NorthEast did not have their chances Just after the halfhourmark Bagan goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharja was forced to make a save after Machado received the ball from Gallego and took a shotBagan nearly went ahead at the stroke of halftime as David Williams after getting the ball from Hernandez tried to find the onrushing Prabir Das who missed it by inchesThe opening goal when it came arrived in controversial circumstances Bagan defender Tiri gave away the ball cheaply as it bounced off Gallego and ran loose behind the defence Tiri found himself in a race with Machado to get to the ball first The Spaniard though took a tumble under pressure from Machado and the linesmans flag went straight up Referee Crystal John however did not stop play and Machado duly slotted it past Arindam Despite vigorous protests by Bagan John allowed the goal after consulting the linesmanNorthEast nearly doubled their lead soon when Gallego curled in a wonderful cross across the face of the goal Mashoor Shereef was able to get on the end of it but his looped header struck the post and bounced back into the playHowever the lead lasted just over ten minutes as a low ball from Carl McHugh outside the box found Krishna unmarked at the far post The Fijian was never going to miss a simple tap inAfter the goal it looked like Bagan would go on to find the winner but Gallego had other plans With just under ten minutes left the Uruguayan curled one from outside the box and it went in after bouncing off the uprightThere was a late penalty call for Bagan after Krishna went down in the box under pressure from NorthEast keeper Subhasish Roy but the referee awarded a goalkickThis 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