KOLKATA: With their pride wounded and reputation taken a beating, ATK Mohun Bagan responded to the crisis hovering over their AFC Cup campaign in remarkable fashion, riding Liston Colaco's hat-trick to blow away Bangladesh champions Bashundhara Kings 4-0 at the Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday and staying alive in the continental competition with renewed hope.
Soon after the game kicked off, a powerful nor'wester hit the city forcing the players to return to the dressing room twice inside the opening 13 minutes. And when action resumed, after a gap of overall 50 minutes, Bashundhara Kings found themselves in the eye of another storm in the form of Colaco.
Following their 2-4 loss to I-League champions Gokulam Kerala, Juan Ferrando's side faced a do-or-die game against Bashundhara Kings in Group D. And Liston Colaco was in the heart of his team's turnaround, scoring in the 25, 34 and 53 minutes and almost single-handedly put the Bangladeshi outfit in its place. David Williams put the cherry on the victory cake making it 4-0 in the 77th minute.
And much to the relief to ATK Bagan, Maziya Sports from Maldives brought Gokulam Kerala crashing down to earth with a 1-0 win in the second match of the night, thus, throwing open the race for topping the group.
Only one team will progress to the interzonal playoff semifinal from Group D.
It was a tall order for ATKMB given their defence has not looked the most solid of late but maintaining a clean sheet after conceding four in the last game may come in handy for Ferrando's side should three teams finish with equal points.
As things stand now, all four teams have one win each in their kitty but ATK Bagan are leading the pack thanks to a better goal difference.
The first game might have had two stops early on, but Colaco looked unstoppable, making life miserable for the Bashundhara defence.
If Ferrando asked for an immediate response from his players after the setback against the I-League champions, no body exemplified it better than Colaco.
The wily winger started the demolition job in the 25th minute when Carl McHugh, given a start in place of Williams, pounced on a poor clearance from Bashundhara defender Biswanath Ghosh and quickly sent Colaco free inside the box. Colaco made no mistake in beating rival goalkeeper Anisur Rahman.
Nine minutes later Colaco, this time set up by Joni Kauko, came calling again, rounding the goalkeeper and making it 2-0.
Bashundhara, who looked dangerous so far, forcing a couple of crucial saves from ATKMB keeper Arsh Answer and had one of their attempts denied by the woodwork, were stunned. But their attacking aspirations were hard done by poor decision-making at the back and Colaco took advantage of another defensive mistake to make it 3-0 soon after the break.
Williams then came off the bench and completed the rout in the 77th minute.
The ATKMB fans returned home with more joy when Maziya blew a hole in Gokulam Kerala's aspirations thanks to Cornelius Stewart's goal in the 50th minute.
SATURDAY'S RESULTS: ATKMB 4 (Colaco 25, 34, 53, Williams 77) Bashundhara Kings 0; Maziya 1 (Stewart 50) Gokulam Kerala 0
