Costa makes it a happy homecoming for Bengaluru FC

In the first half, Bengaluru enjoyed the majority of ball possession and Chhetri's 23rd minute header off a Bruno Silva centre was off target

It took a long time, almost the entirety of the match. But in the end, it was Alan Costa who blew the metaphorical roof off the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Saturday with a towering header.

If the few among the 19,379 who turned up to welcome Bengaluru FC back to their Fortress for the Indian Super League thought that this a night when the ball just refuses to enter the net, they could be forgiven for it.

There was a glorious chance for Sivasakthi Narayanan to mark his home debut with a goal early on, there were half chances and nearly moments but the final flourish remained elusive before the Brazilian, the latest member in Bengaluru’s history of goal-scoring centre halves, met Javi Hernandez's corner to break the deadlock.
As the antagonists in the script that was laid out for Bengaluru’s grand homecoming, NorthEast United FC played their part. To the point of even scoring a spectacular equaliser in injury time, Ion Gaztanaga with a long ranger, only for the referee to rule out the goal for a player interfering with play from an offside position. An irate NEUFC protested vociferously and ended with their coach Mark Balbul getting his marching orders.

The visitors, with a sizable crowd backing them, had hit the bar and missed their fair share of chances too, Jithin MS being the key culprit there.

Romain Philippoteaux, the quick footed Frenchman, stood out for his frills and thrills but when presented with possibly the best chance of the game, poked it wide.

For the home side, Sivasakthi was a bundle of energy, stretching the play and in perpetual motion that allowed Sunil Chhetri to play in the hole and Roy Krishna, who had a unremarkable home debut, to come in short.

The Tamil Nadu attacker could have marked his ISL start with a goal but he fired his effort just wide in front of a gaping goal when fed by Noarem Roshan Singh.

Roshan, the breakout star last season, was excellent with his runs and threatening with his deliveries.

Bengaluru dominated the possession for the most part and it was only at the end of each half that NorthEast woke up from their slumber.

The final 15 minutes was the most exciting as both teams went for the win.

Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was forced to scramble across goal and pull off a save at full stretch while Mathew Derbyshire sent a header flying wide as the visitors upped the ante. At the other end there were half chances but BFC was unable to find the finishing touches. That is until Costa made Simon Grayson’s ISL bow, a memorable one.