Roy Krishna and Subhasish Bose were on target as ATK Mohun Bagan beat Bengaluru FC 2-0 in their opening AFC Cup Group D South Zone encounter at the National Football Stadium in Male, Maldives on Wednesday.

Both teams started with a lot of intent. Jayesh Rane, Bengaluru FC’s goalscorer in their win against Club Eagles in their play-off game on Sunday, tried his luck from the distance in the fourth minute but missed the target.

Hugo Boumous almost put the Mariners ahead in the 21st minute of the game. He took on a couple of Bengaluru FC defenders and unleashed a nice shot on goal, but goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, warded off the danger for the Blues with a fine save.

A couple of minutes later, Boumous was again in action and almost found Roy Krishna in the box.

At the other end, in the 26^th minute, Bengaluru FC had a first shot on the target as Cleiton Silva launched a free-kick right into the box. With a little bit of luck, Alan Costa could have headed the ball in before it went straight into Amrinder Singh’s hands.

As the game opened up, Gurpreet again denied Boumous in the 32^nd minute.

However, ATK Mohun Bagan broke the deadlock in the 39th minute. Boumous’ corner from the right was headed towards goal by an unmarked Carl McHugh and Krishna nodded home the Irishman’s header past Gurpreet to put the Mariners in the lead.

After the break, Mohun Bagan doubled the lead within a few seconds thanks Subhasish Bose’s clinical finish off David William’s inch perfect cross.

Thereafter, it was all a cagey affair as Bengaluru FC failed to create a chance against the spirited defence of ATK Mohun Bagan.

Bengaluru FC will be up against Bangladesh’s Bashundhara Kings on August 21. ATK Mohun Bagan, meanwhile, take on Maldives’ Maziya Sports & Recreation on the same day.