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Punjab FC’s winless run extends to seven games as Javier Hernandez and Pratik Chowdhary’s goals give Jamshedpur FC a 2-1 win to push them to 3rd in the league standings.
JFC’s Javi Hernandez celebrating with team mates Imran Khan, Javier Siverio and Shubham Sarangi after scoring against PFC at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi on Tuesday (ISL Media)
Ezequiel Vidal’s second-half strike went in vain as Punjab FC suffered a 1-2 defeat to Jamshedpur FC in the Indian Super League 2024-25 fixture that took place at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi on Tuesday.
Panagiotis Dilmperis, Punjab FC’s Head Coach did not tinker too much with his side, making only two changes to his side. Leon Augustine and Ashis Pradhan made way for K Lhungdhim and Nikhil Prabhu. Meanwhile, his respective counterpart, Khalid Jamil, opted to make as many as five changes from his previous 11 that took on Hyderabad FC. Nikhil Barla, W Muirang, Stephen Eze, Mohammad Rahman and Jordan Murray made way for Shubham Sarangi, Pratik Chowdhary, Rei Tachikawa and Javier Sivero respectively.
The first half saw most of the possession being dominated by the hosts. But like most games this season, they lacked the clinical pass or finish to get that opening goal. Punjab had their chances, to say the least. In fact, they had the first shot on-goal when their striker from Slovenia, Luka Majcen looked to attempt a cheeky flick but only to find the keeper.
Jamshedpur, despite being on the back foot most of the time, managed to make use of the set piece to their advantage. The corner kick taken by the Japanese midfielder, Rei Tachikawa, found the defender, Pratik Chowdhary in the middle, who headed it in to give them the lead in the latter stages of the first 45 minutes.
Punjab’s Vidal struck from outside the box to revive Punjab’s hopes with their opening goal of the match in the 58th minute. That goal prompted the Shers’ Head Coach to make some changes in the attack with Luka Majcen and Muhammad Suhail coming out for Petros Giakoumakis and Leon Augustine. Punjab opted to make two more changes at the 70th minute by bringing in KN Meetei and Pramveer for Shabong and NS Meitei respectively.
But the substitutions proved to be futile as the Shers dented chances at a shot at the play-offs. This defeat makes it seven games since their last win. Currently, they now sit at the ninth in the points table, desperate for a win to revive their chances. Dilmperis will certainly be under pressure to turn things around and it remains to be seen if he can give that spark to the Shers once again.
Brief Scores
(E Vidal 58′) Punjab FC 1 – 2 Jamshedpur FC (P Chowdary 41′, J Hernandez 48′)
