Kiyan Nassiri turned an unlikely hero for ATK Mohun Bagan as he performed a hat-trick, after coming in as a late substitute, and helped his team beat traditional rival SC East Bengal 3-1 in an ISL-8 fixture at Fatorda on Saturday.
Sideol strikes
SC EB went into the lead early in the second half through a goal from Darren Sidoel. Kiyan arrived just after the hour mark and turned the game around for ATK MB.
The 21-year-old forward found the equaliser three minutes after his arrival and struck twice in injury time in the second half.
SC EB, which started with two specialist strikers in Croatian Antonio Perosevic and the newly arrived Brazilian Marcelo Rebeiro, did well on the counter-attacks.
The ploy seemed to work well as SC EB earned the first good opportunity of the match in the 25th minute but Marcelo wasted the opportunity with a wayward attempt.
ATK MB returned strongly after the break but saw a Liston Colaco attempt come off the cross-piece. It was SC EB which found the lead off a corner as Sidoel converted in the 56th minute.
Stepping in
ATK MB coach Juan Ferrando introduced Kiyan in the 61st minute after his regular attackers — David Williams, Hugo Boumous and Liston Colaco – repeatedly failed to find the target.
Kiyan, who is the son of the former East Bengal star Jamshid Nassiri, announced his arrival with the equaliser in the 64th minute.
After Williams blew a penalty in the 66th minute, it was Kiyan who found the lead for ATK MB in the second minute of added time. He added another two minutes later to make it an extraordinary night for himself and ATK MB.
The result helped ATK MB climb into the top four with 19 points from 11 matches while SC EB slid to the bottom of the table with nine points from 14 games.
The result:
ATK Mohun Bagan 3 (Kiyan Nassiri 64, 90+2, 90+4) bt SC East Bengal 1 (Darren Sidoel 54).
