Pune: FC Pune City made their way to the top of the Indian Super League (ISL) points table with a 1-0 win over NorthEast United FC at the Balewadi Sports Complex here on Friday.
Zohmingliana Ralte’s own goal in the 73rd minute was good enough to hand the hosts their second consecutive victory after beating Mumbai City FC in their opening match.
English coach David Platt made a couple of changes to Pune’s starting XI by including Fanai Lalrepuia and Dharmaraj Ravanan. Adrian Mutu also made his way into the starting line-up alongside Yendrick Ruiz, but Tuncay Sanli, who was the hero of the last game against Mumbai, was left out.
NorthEast coach Cesar Farias made five changes after their opening loss to Kerala, with Gennaro Bracigliano, Sanju Pradhan, Francis Dadzie, Zogmingliana Ralte and Raju Yumnam starting for the visitors.
In the 27th minute, NorthEast came hard at the Pune defence to create their best chance. Nicolas Velez got himself in front of a lucky rebound off Ravanan’s legs and sped towards goal. His set-up, however, had too much pace on it for his teammates in the box to and his squared pass went well wide.
The start of the second half saw the home side pressing hard, but the visitors’ defence was strong enough to not allow them the upper hand.
As the minutes went past, both teams managed to create chances, but failed to turn them into fruitful results until a corner from Lalrempuia saw Ralte send the ball past his own keeper.
NorthEast looked to counter-attack, but Pune held out.
