Odisha FC held on to seal a 1-1 draw in opposition to FC Goa on the Kalinga Stadium on Monday, regardless of being a person down for the ultimate quarter of the sport.
First-half targets from Noah Sadaoui and Diego Mauricio had arrange an enormous second half for the 2 playoff contenders who will, nonetheless, seemingly be proud of a consequence that didn’t injury both of their prospects.
FC Goa bought off to the right begin when Sadaoui put it forward within the second minute. Alvaro Vazquez picked up the ball in midfield as Odisha FC was trying to push ahead, and located Sadaoui with a by way of ball on the left facet of the field.
Odisha FC’s defence was unfold out and monitoring again because the ahead discovered time to compose himself and drive the ball previous Amrinder’s left hand.
Odisha FC did handle to create the higher probabilities from there on, usually from the left with Isak Ralte being its outlet.
FC Goa defended narrowly and in numbers for almost all of the half, providing little or no for the hosts to breach, till Ralte was fouled a number of yards exterior the field in direction of the tip of the half.
Mauricio stepped as much as take the ensuing free-kick and powered a roller that was an excessive amount of for Dheeraj Singh leaping to his proper.
FC Goa almost went again into the lead earlier than the tip of the half, with Sadaoui and Vazquez switching roles on this event. Sadaoui’s cross from the left flank discovered the striker who had crushed his marker, however bought his glancing header simply extensive.
The two mixed but once more in what was an electrical interval of end-to-end soccer early within the second half.
Sadaoui performed Vazquez by way of, who discovered the again of the web earlier than he noticed the flag raised for offside.
In the following minute, Nandhakumar Sekar put in a wonderfully weighted cross that discovered Saul Crespo’s highly effective header, just for Dheeraj to pounce to his proper and save. From there, FC Goa managed to get the ball out to Sadaoui whose lengthy shot was straight on the keeper.
This tempo to the sport briefly got here to a cease as Odisha FC was compelled to sluggish issues down within the 67th minute, when left-back Sahil Panwar picked up a second yellow for a problem from behind.
With no main attacking push coming from FC Goa, the house facet made a spate of positive-minded substitutions within the 81st minute, shortly after Amrinder had made an important save as Hernan Santana’s shot got here by way of a crowded penalty field.
While these substitutions didn’t translate into probabilities for Odisha FC, it additionally didn’t face any substantial threats to its objective till the tip of the sport, barring a free-kick from Brandon Fernandes that went over and a deflected long-range shot from Santana that Amrinder stored his eyes on.
The consequence put Odisha FC stage on matches with Bengaluru FC, however a degree behind sixth place, whereas FC Goa stays in fourth. Odisha FC stays at residence to face Hyderabad FC on Friday, whereas FC Goa heads again residence to face Mumbai City FC on Saturday.
