Williams sends ATK to final

Bengaluru had won the first leg 1-0 but ATK’s resurgence in the second leg saw it win the tie 3-2 on aggregate. ATK nows face Chennaiyin FC, both two-time ISL champion in the grand finale in Goa on Saturday. Last Sunday, it was BFC which took the lead through Ashique Kuruniyan (5’) early in the game but Roy Krishna (30’) pulled one back in the first half.

David Williams then did the star turn for ATK with a brace in the second half (63’, 79’) to send his team through to the final. Ashique gave the away side the lead as early as in the fifth minute as he got on the end of a pass from Nili Perdomo. The winger skipped past the challenge by Sumit Rathi and beat Arindam Bhattacharya at the near post.

Just at the half-hour mark, the home side pulled one back. Williams found Prabir Das in space on the right and his cross towards the near post was slotted into the back of the net by Krishna. In the 60th minute, Williams was brought down by the trailing leg of Suresh Wangjam and the referee awarded a spot-kick.

From the ensuing penalty, Williams sent Gurpreet the wrong way to make it 2-1. Antonio Habas threw Mandi Sosa and Jayesh Rane into the mix as the Kolkata side searched for its third goal. Arindam made a crucial save in the 75th minute as Suresh sent an inch-perfect ball for Kevaughn Frater but the Jamaican striker’s shot from point-blank range was saved by the ATK custodian.

Four minutes later, Das and Williams combined once again to put ATK ahead on aggregate. Rane sent Das to the byline down the right-wing and his cross was headed in brilliantly by Williams.