Odisha FC’s hopes of getting into the playoff zone suffered a hiccup as they shared spoils with visitors FC Goa in their 17th round match of India Super League (ISL) at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Monday.
Noah Sadaoui gave Goa a second-minute lead while Diego Mauricio brought parity just before the break. But the second half failed to produce any winner as the end result made sure both the playoff contenders didn’t damage their prospects of making it to the next round.
However, playing the last 25 minutes with a man down, Odisha will be relieved to not return empty handed from the home game as Goa failed to take full advantage of the situation. With only three rounds of the league stage left, the road to next round became tougher for Josep Gombau’s side who currently sits just outside the top six on the 11-team league table with 24 points.
Goa, on the other hand, made their position a bit stronger with the point from the match which helped them climb a rung to fourth above former champions ATK Mohun Bagan and Bengaluru FC. Carlos Pena’s boys now have 27 points, equal with ATKMB but with a better goal difference, though Mariners have a game in hand.
Goa got off to a perfect start as Sadaoui put them ahead early in the second minute after receiving a through from Alvaro Vazquez on the left of the box. Odisha defence was spread out and falling back as the striker found ample time to gain composure before driving the ball home past Odisha goalkeeper Amrinder’s left hand.
The hosts managed to create better chances from there on and grew in the game with time but Goa defended well to offer very few chances to the hosts to breach their fort, until Isak Vanlalruatfela was tripped a few yards outside the area towards the end of first half. Mauricio took the resulting free-kick and the Brazilian’s curler was too powerful for Dheeraj Singh to keep it at bay leaping to his right. The shot shook the top net.
Second half began on a promising note but the pace came to a halt as Odisha had to slow things down in the 67th minute, when left-back Sahil Panwar picked up his second yellow of the match for a challenge from behind.
Odisha stay at home to play Hyderabad FC on Friday, while FC Goa head back home to take on leaders Mumbai City on Saturday.
