Faced with the biggest challenge in their last three rounds of matches left, Odisha FC came up with a remarkable performance to outgun Hyderabad FC and catapult into the top-six of Indian Super League (ISL) table with a comprehensive 3-1 win over the No. 2 side at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Friday.
Nim Dorjee Tamang brought parity for the Nizams at the stroke of half-time after Isac Vanlalruatfela had given the hosts a stunning lead in the 33rd minute. But two second-half goals, an own goal by Tamang and a clinical finish by Diego Mauricio, gave Odisha a shot in the arm to keep their chances of qualifying for their first playoffs alive and kicking.
With this win, Odisha (27 points from 18 games) moved a place up on the roster pushing Bengaluru FC out of top-six while Hyderabad, already qualified for the next round, remained on the second place.
Odisha began the game on the fast lane and kept their much-fancied opponents under pressure throughout the first half. Such was the Kalinga Warriors’ dominance that except for that one chance for the Nizams – which they capitalized to draw level – Hyderabad failed to create a half-chance in the entire first 45 minutes of the game.
Odisha got their first opportunity early in the third minute but Mauricio’s effort from close was straight to Hyderabad goalkeeper Gurmeet Singh’s hands. In the 23rd minute Gurmeet’s double-save saved Hyderabad the blushes. First it was Nandhakumar Sekar’s shot from a difficult angle on the right of box which Gurmeet saved with a stretched leg but on rebound it fell to Mauricio, who failed to beat the alert keeper from close range.
The Brazilian striker made life difficult for the visitors’ defence with deft runs into the area time and again but failed to cross the final hurdle. However, Odisha deservingly got the breakthrough in the 33rd minute when young Mizo winger Vanlalruatfela scored a stunner from way outside the box.
Receiving a pass from Pedro Martin on the left, Isak launched a long-range right footed shot which dipped at the right time to beat a leaping Gurmeet at the top-right corner of the net. However, the Juggernauts’ joy was short-lived as centre-back Tamang’s diving header following a Joel Chianese free-kick in the dying moments of the first half squared it up for Hyderabad.
After the change of ends, both teams tried to go ahead in an entertaining end-to-end action. But it was the home side who wrested back the lead in the 72nd minute. Mauricio made a run into the box on the left with three yellow shirts around him and held off the challenge to keep the ball in action. Following some action in the goalmouth melee, the ball went to Sekar on the left of the box and the striker’s left-footed shot took a huge deflection off Tamang’s left leg before beating Gurmeet to his left.
Odisha kept the pressure on to give their opponents minimum chances of crawling back into the game and the man who shared the bulk of their workload in the evening was rewarded with the goal which killed off the game in the added time.
Mauricio defeated the keeper with a right footer from a difficult angle on the right which went in near the far post. He was assisted by substitute Isaac Vanmalsawma’s through ball which beat the offside trap to perfection.
