FATORDA
FC Goa held on to break the resilience of Jamshedpur FC and their late wave of attacks to edge out the hard-knuckled men from the Steel City to a 2-1 win at Fatorda on Thursday.
The opening minutes of the game witnessed the visitors take the initiative but the Gaurs did not let up. The visitors won a free kick early on, with Ahmed Jahouh bringing down the mercurial Jerry just outside the box. From the dead ball, former FC Goa medio Trindade Goncalves sent a beautiful curler that went just inches out from the right inside of the woodwork. As Goa gradually tried to get into the contest, Ferran Corominas -- from the right flank off a Brandon Fernandes assist -- made a weak attempt on target which was easily taken care of by Jamshedpur goalkeeper Subrata Paul. Jamshedpur meanwhile saw their Nigerian forward Azuka Izu come to the fore dribbling past two defenders but coming short of a finish by a few inches. FC Goa's Mandar Rao Dessai then was on goal on the 22nd minute but rival defender Souvik Chakrabarti fell back on line to ensure the attacker's effort gave no trouble to their goalkeeper.
Towards the half hour mark, Jamshedpur began to amount pressure in the Gaurs' defence line, prompting the blue shirts to sit deep in their half to thwart the attacks. Trindade was in the forefront against his former employers giving them testing moments on repeated occasions in the final third. A rare attempt at goal from the home side, came from a fair distance out with Narayan Das lobbing the ball over a water-tight defence that sailed inches over
the upright.
Against the run of play in the opening half, the sound defence of the visitors opened up a tad for a scurrying Brandon Fernandes on goal. The Benaulim-based winger was brought down by Cameroonian defender Andre Bikey as the referee pointed to the spot. Stepping up to take the spot kick, Manuel Lanzarote (45+1) had the diving keeper Paul beaten to lead his side into the tunnel 1-0 ahead.
On change of ends, the visitors came back strongly. Within minutes, Bikash Jairu from a sharp angle on the left floated a ball across the goal with the FC Goa goalkeeper Laxmikant Kattimani doing well to glove it away. It was not long before the constant efforts of the visitors were duly rewarded. Trinidade's glancing header on the 54th minute found the far end of the nets from a beautiful lob into the box coming from Jerry. At a shade under the hour mark, Corominas' dexterous feet sidestepped Bikey on a dribble, beat the outstretched foot of Jerry but the shot went inches out of the intended target.
A minute later, FC Goa went ahead once again through a Lanzarote beauty. Outwitting his marker on the heel, the creative Spanish midfielder twisted around and drilled a rasping strike in the far end of the nets rewarding a defence-splitting pass from Brandon.
A goal down and on an aggressive double-switch, Jamshedpur coach Steve Coppell brought on two forwards for a defender and a midfielder on the 65th minute. With the game moving into the last quarter, Jamshedpur substitute Kervens Belfort's menacing move on target from the left flank took a deflection off FC Goa defender Bruno Pinheiro for FC Goa shot-stopper to mop up.
In the closing stages, with the opposition pressing hard for an equaliser, the FC Goa gaffer Sergio Lobera in a tactical move brought on defender Sergio Juste for Lanzarote to keep the opposition at bay. Meanwhile, FC Goa substitute Manvir Singh beat Bikey in defence, doing well to send a delivery towards Edu Bedia on goal. Bedia got around the Jamshedpur goalkeeper Paul but was unable to measure the pace on ball and score from a tight angle.
FC Goa then survived a scare on the 88th minute when Belfort tried to head in the ball but collided with the opposition goalkeeper. Jamshedpur's substitute striker Ashim Biswas, who was lurking near goal, had the home side defender Mohamed Ali react first, fumble and clear away the danger. The last-ditch attempt to get something from the game for the visitors was blocked by the heavy traffic of blue shirts in FC Goa's defence with Jairu's cross in the box for Bikey going waste in stoppage-time.
