FC Goa managed to earn a hard fought 2-1 win over Bengaluru FC on Saturday to jump to seventh spot in the points table.
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FC Goa battled past Bengaluru FC to secure a 2-1 win in the Indian Super League fixture at the Bambolim stadium on Saturday. The Gaurs got their nose in front courtesy of an own goal from Ashique Kuruniyan before Bengaluru FC equalized through Cleiton Silva. After the break, With the match locked at 1-1, Jorge Ortiz was sent off for a violent push on Suresh Wangjam. Despite being a man down, Goa scored the winner through Devendra Murgaonkar to earn all three points.
Goa started the match brightly as Ortiz was causing all sorts of problems to the Bengaluru defence. The 29-year-old easily went past a number of defenders down the right side before delivering a cut back which was intercepted by Bengaluru goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
Five minutes later, Ortiz was released down the right flank and he raced past Alan Costa before delivering a cut back for Devendra, which was desperately cleared by Pratik Chowdhary. The pressure was mounting on the Bengaluru defence and it didn’t take long for Goa to take the lead.
Glan Martins released Devendra down the left with a header. The 23-year-old drove forward with the ball before attempting a low shot, which Gurpreet only managed to parry away weakly. Ortiz tried to slot in the rebound but went in off Kuruniyan in the 16th minute. It was the India international’s second own goal of the season
A minute later, BFC produced a brilliant team move before Sunil Chhetri’s effort went over the bar. Roshan Singh played a one-two with Suresh on the edge of the box before delivering the cut back for Chhetri. The 37-year-old who was unmarked inside the area, surprisingly blazed his shot over the crossbar. That miss summed up his poor season so far. The India captain has not got on the score sheet in six appearances this season.
However, BFC finally leveled the score courtesy of a brilliant free-kick goal from Silva, on the stroke of half time. The Brazilian’s free-kick from the left flank beat a hapless Dheeraj Singh and went in off the far post.
BFC head coach Marco Pezzaiuoli added more firepower as he brought in Prince Ibara after the break and the Congolese striker caused all sorts of problems to the Goa defence with his towering presence. He easily went past two defenders before setting up Danish Farooq Bhat on the edge of the box, but the midfielder’s shot went wide.
Few moments later, both of them combined once again as Ibara slid the ball through for Bhat but Dheeraj quickly came off the line to make a brave save. In the 53rd minute, things took a slight violent turn after Ortiz reacted aggressively after a foul on him by Suresh and the Spanish forward was shown a straight red card by the referee. Suresh received a yellow card for the foul from behind.
Despite being a man down, Goa scored the winner, against the run of play in the 70th minute. Saviour Gama’s cross from the left was nicely headed towards the path of Devendra by Ivan Gonzalez. The Indian forward slotted the ball past Gurpreet to make it 2-1 for Goa.
Gonzalez and Dylan Fox then came up with vital blocks to deny BFC the equalizer and seal the victory for Goa. It was only Goa’s second win of the campaign and they are now placed at seventh spot in the points table. Meanwhile Bengaluru’s poor season continues as they are languishing at the 10th spot with just 4 points from 6 games.
