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A brace in the second half from Satendra Singh (61′,73′) saw Bengaluru FC draw 2-2 in their 2nd Division League encounter against RKM FC at the Bangalore Football Stadium on Thursday. A four-goal second half saw Hafiz Ur Rehman Khan (46′,75′) also score twice to get a point for the visitors.
Earlier, Bengaluru FC head coach Kaizad Ambapardiwala made three changes to the side which started the previous game against Chennaiyin FC, with Sharon Padattil replacing Dipesh Chauhan in goal, while Vinith Venkatesh and Harmanpreet Singh also made it in place of Wungngayam Muirang and Satendra.
Ambapardiwala’s side were forced into an early change, after Harmanpreet went down with an injury and had to be replaced by Satendra in the seventh minute. The Blue Colts had two of what they believed to be legitimate penalty claims for handling the ball in the box, waved off by referee Bimalendu Mondal.
Bengaluru FC continued to pile on the pressure and had another close shave just before half-time, when a cross from Bekey Oram, following a corner, narrowly went past the reach of Harpreet Singh, with the defender bearing down on goal.
Ahead of the restart, Bengaluru FC made another change, with Ambapardiwala bringing on Ashik Adhikari to replace Biswa Darjee. The visitors won a penalty within a minute after the second half had commenced when Damaitphang Lyngdoh brought down RKM’s Abhijit Pramanik in the box, leading referee Mondal to point to the spot.
Hafiz Ur Rehman Khan stepped up and sent Sharon the wrong way before placing his shot into the bottom left-hand corner to put his side in the lead. The Blues did not have to wait long for the equalizer, scoring just past the hour mark. The initial strike from 25 yards out by Amay Morajkar struck the upright before rebounding into the path of Satendra. The striker scored with an angled finish to notch his second goal of the campaign and bring his side back into the game.
Just over 10 minutes later, Satendra scored again in the 73rd minute to put the Blue Colts ahead. The forward was at the right place to pick up a cutback from Ashish Jha before smashing home from close range giving RKM ‘keeper Ayan Bhattacharya no chance. The lead would be short lived though, as RKM equalized in the 75th minute through Hafiz, the midfielder rose highest to head home from a corner to notch his and his side’s second of the game.
Ambapardiwala once again turned to his bench, bringing on Shreyas Ketkar in place of Oram in a bid to claim the lead, but the two teams held on to settle for a point at the end of a gripping contest.
Bengaluru FC will face FC Bengaluru United in their penultimate Group C game at the Bangalore Football Stadium on Tuesday.
