After 17 minutes, the attacking ratio between Atletico de Kolkata and FC Pune City read 70-30. Fikru Lemessa already had a crack at goal and the visitors were looking uncertain in defence. Borja Fernandez came close on 31 minutes. Twenty yards out and Pune goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharya at his mercy, he, however, went for power to a Cavin Lobo cut-back when precision could have been a better option. Kolkata were clearly dominant.

Pune hung on. They didn’t panic and the patience eventually paid off. Soon they started to make their presence felt. On 35 minutes, they had a goal. Davide Colomba – outstanding throughout — set it up with a delightful cross. Dudu Omagbemi got ahead of his marker Ofentse Nato and headed home.

“I’ve been enjoying, playing for my new team and it has always been special here in Kolkata. Very happy to score a goal,” the Nigerian centre-forward, who is on a loan spell to Pune from East Bengal, said after the match.

Pune came very close to double the advantage at the stroke of half-time. Dudu fed John Goossens and the Dutchman fired. But Kolkata goalkeeper Subhasish Roy Chowdhury came up with a spectacular save.

“This is not the first time we are down by a goal at half-time. This team can bounce back and win from here,” Atletico Kolkata co-owner Sourav Ganguly said during the break. Pune, however, were in no mood to surrender the initiative.

They started stronger in the second half. Colomba had a chance to make it 2-0 but hit over the bar. Then came the moment of the match. Konstantinos Katsouranis was allowed to run with the ball from his own half. Twenty-five yards out, he checked and unleashed a screamer. The ball curled away into the top corner. Sitting in the directors’ box, Pune coach Franco Colomba – he was serving a touchline ban – punched the air. The Greek World-Cupper started celebrating wildly, as about 40,000 fans at the Salt Lake Stadium watched in disbelief. For a change, their team was staring at defeat.

Handy changes

Kolkata coach Antonio Lopez Habas tweaked his formation. Jakub Podany came in for Luis Garcia. Lester Fernandes replaced Baljit Sahni. The changes worked. The hosts reduced the margin on 84 minutes after Bhattacharya’s challenge on Lemessa was found illegal by referee Santosh Kumar. The Ethiopian scored from the spot. Kolkata had hope, but Colomba put water to it with an 89th minute strike.

Kolkata conceded a free-kick right at the edge of the area. The Italian smacked a left-footer that deflected off the wall and went into the net. 3-1.

Another injury

Pune’s organisation was superb. They always kept five men in midfield and outnumbered their rivals in that area. Dudu freewheeled upfront and was joined by Goossens during attacks. It was a massive result for them. They came here without David Trezeguet and returned with an unlikely victory. It helped them move to 10 points from six matches. The only concern was Goossens’ injury. He damaged his back muscles after colliding heavily with his own goalkeeper and was taken to the hospital for an MRI .

Kolkata tasted their first defeat of the tournament and that too on home pitch. The link-up play between Garcia and Lemessa didn’t work properly and concentration level of the defenders was poor. With 12 points from seven matches, they still top the chart but others are fast catching up.