ATK’s Jakub Podany tries to go past an FC Goa player, at the Salt Lake Stadium, on Wednesday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: Lady luck finally smiled on Atletico de Kolkata. And she smiled when it mattered the most.

Trailing 0-1 against FC Goa in the crucial last-round match of the Hero Indian Super League, on Wednesday, ATK were staring at the exit door. They needed a draw or win to make it to the knock-out round, but the way things were going, everything looked doomed.

But in the 65th minute, it happened. Fikru Teferra had the ball inside the penalty box with only the goalkeeper to beat. With defender Bruno Pinheiro hot on his heels, Fikru got himself into a tangle and fell in a heap. Pinheiro did not have even the faintest of touches, but referee Baldomero Toledo, who was nearby, awarded a penalty.

If that was out of the blue, what followed came as the double blow. Pinheiro was shown the red card.

The ATK players, the bench and the crowd did not complain. After all, throughout the tournament they were at the receiving end of bad refereeing. Jofre Mateu getting the marching order against Chennaiyin FC, Luis Garcia’s legitimate goal was disallowed against Kerala Blasters… ATK really had a harrowing time when it came to refereeing decisions.

Fikru calmly converted the penalty and it was party time at the Salt Lake Stadium.

Parity had been restored. ATK were just 23 minutes away from sneaking into the last four. Fikru did the usual somersault, ran towards team manager Jose Antonio Habas, hugged him for a minute and asked the crowd to cheer them more.

The scoreline remained 1-1 and ATK, who almost made a mess of the situation with a series of bad performances, are in the semi-finals.

They finished third with 19 points and host FC Goa once again on Sunday in the first leg of the semi-final. The away match, in Margao is scheduled for Wednesday. Chennaiyin FC, who finished on top with 23 points, play fourth-placed Blasters, who have 19 points.

FC Goa manager Zico chose to shuffle his pack and made nine changes to the starting line-up. It was not so surprising as some of his players were a yellow card away from missing the semi-finals.

Pinheiro and Debabrata Roy were the only ones who were not rested from the last match, as the likes of Miroslav Slepicka and Andre Santos were given breaks. Robert Pires, however, started for the away side for the first time in three weeks.

Still, FC Goa looked a better team with crisp passing and positional senses. They looked like a team who are very confident of the themselves and know how to go about the job. At times, particularly during when the first goal came, ATK were simply chasing shadows. So when most of the FC Goa players return, it will be a different ball game altogether for ATK.

FC Goa broke the deadlock in the 27th minute. Clifford ran down the left and the ball reached Pires after a Kingshuk challenge. The Frenchman passed to Ranti, whose tentative shot was blocked by Borja. The ball fell to Edgar Marcelino, whose booming volley gave Edel Bete no chance to move. The crowd, who were so boisterous till then, fell silent.

After the change of ends, Habas decided to bring in Luis Garcia in place of more defensive Oftense Nato. The move paid dividends as ATK started moving forward. Fikru hit the post and Podany missed a chance. And then came the penalty decision.

There was a bad news though for ATK. Arnab Mondal picked up an ankle injury and was replaced in the 68th minute. A very vital cog in the ATK wheel, the central defender might miss the semi-finals. That’s something which will not be to Habas’s liking.

TEAMS

ATK: Edel Bete; Kingshuk Debnath, Josemi, Arnab Mondal (Rakesh Masih 68), Biswajit Saha (N. Mohanraj 46), Borja Fernandez, Ofentse Nato (Luis Garcia 46), Mohammed Rafi, Jakub Podany, Baljit Singh Sahni and Fikru Teferra.

FC Goa: Laxmikant Kattimani, Debabrata Roy, Youness Bengelloun, Bruno Pinheiro, Clifford Miranda, Robert Pires (Gabriel Fernandez 70), Jewel Raja, Peter Carvalho, Miguel Helein, Edgar Marcelino (Alywn George 88) and Ranty Martins (Holicharan Narzary 79).

MoM: Fikru Teferra

Referee: Baldomero Toledo