Hyderabad 0-0 NorthEast United: Points shared as match Ends in a Stalemate

Hyderabad FC-NorthEast United FC

The second match of the Super Sunday turned out to be an anticlimax as the 86th match of the Hero Indian Super League ended in a dead rubber goalless draw. Hyderabad FC and  NorthEast United both fought hard to get the winner throughout the match but in vain. 

In hindsight, it was the Nizams that enjoyed more possession and attempts at goal but they came up short against a very disciplined  NorthEast United FC defence. On the other hand, the Highlanders created the most half-chances but failed to find the perfect finish.

The third and fourth place is up for grabs now, so each and every point is being fought for now.  Both the Nizams and the Highlanders were ready and raring to go from the start. Being higher up on the points table than their rivals, the Nizams were definitely a more well-balanced team, going into the match. 

The match kicked off and about 16 minutes in, the Hero of the Month winner for the month of January, Federico Gallego made a wild shot towards the goal. It was an attempt to convert the dead ball, but it flew out, way above the crossbar. 

The next attempt came from the Highlanders’ camp as a freekick was played to Luis Machado. It ended up for Lalengmawia but he couldn’t finish it well enough and his shot went in straight to the opponent goalkeeper.

The scores were level during the halftime as both the teams had a pretty tame first half. Hyderabad FC could only manage one attempt at goal even though they hogged possession and the NorthEast United FC managed just two. 

The second half brought with itself some fresh legs introduced in steady intervals but none of them managed to cause any mention-worthy impact. The most important miss came at the 85th minute as Benjamin Lambot missed a goalscoring opportunity. Federico Gallego’s freekick went straight into the box and found Benjamin Lambot at the near post, but his header proved to be strong and off-target, and the Highlanders probably missed their most important opportunity to round the game up and claim victory.

Again, in the 90th minute, Liston Colaco flew in from the left flank and took a shot straight at Subhasish Roy, thus ending Hyderabad FC’s last chance of the match. The match went into 4 minutes of injury time but none of the players could pull off something spectacular and the match ended in a goalless draw.

Hero of the Match: Federico Gallego

The DHL Winning Pass of the Match Award was awarded to Federico Gallego, while Lalengmawia was adjudged to be the winner of tonight’s  Hero of the Match Award.

With the match drawn, both teams have 23 points from 16 matches, but Hyderabad FC is in the 3rd position with a better goal difference. The Nizams are to face SC East Bengal on 12th February in their next match and the Highlanders are settled to face Odisha FC on 14th February.