MARGAO: Sporting Clube de Goa and Bengaluru FC played out a 2-2 draw in the 12th round I-League match at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, on Sunday.
Marcus Mascarenhas (19′) put The Flaming Oranje ahead while skipper Odafa Okolie (38′) doubled their advantage. Sunil Chhetri (42′, 67′) bagged a brace to restore parity but the visitors were unable to grab a winner despite Loveday Enyinnaya’s dismissal in the 45th minute.
In an action packed contest, Bengaluru FC started on the back-foot but soon organized their midfield. Thoi Singh had the first crack on goal with his weak effort going wide in the 12th minute.
Curtis Osano was substituted with Keegan Pereira within the first quarter of an hour as the Kenyan was forced out with an injury.
The deadlock was soon broken with a rather freak goal. Lalchhuanmawia’s back-pass to his keeper Ralte was tracked down by Marcus Mascarenhas. The Goan closed Ralte down as his flicked effort went inside the net via the keeper’s deflection, leaving the defensive prowess of Bengaluru red-faced.
Soon, Sporting Clube dominated ball possession and skipper Odafa followed up with a shot from 20 yards out which was deflected out for a corner in the 30th minute.
Three minutes later, Bengaluru FC galvanised their attack to create some sort of opportunities. Johnson triggered a through ball for Udanta, who crossed across the face of the goal only for Kim to miss the header by a whisker.
Odafa silenced his critics by getting on the scoresheet, doubling Sporting Clube’s lead. The Nigerian latched onto a forward pass and strolled 20-yards into the box. Seriton’s run into the opposite direction confused the Bengaluru FC defence and the 30-year-old curled in his finish past Mawia Ralte.
The away side were awarded a penalty in the 42nd minute as Johnson was brought down by Loveday inside the box. Skipper Sunil Chhetri made no mistake as he sent Arindam the wrong way to pull one back late into the first half.
Loveday was given his marching orders by referee Santosh Kumar just before half-time for two yellow cards in three minutes. The onus was then with Bengaluru FC, to go on and win the game.
Despite having the numerical advantage, there were no immediate urgency shown by the visitors after the break. The Flaming Oranje saw less of the ball compared to their opponents.
At the hour mark, Michael Collins chested down the ball from a flag-kick and pummelled it towards the net. Arindam acrobatically dived to his right to deny the Briton a goal.
Seven minutes later, Chhetri doubled his tally. Udanta’s long cross from the right missed Kim and an unmarked Chhetri tapped it in with his left foot, restoring parity.
There were shouts for a penalty which were turned down by the referee when Chhetri was brought down inside the box. Odafa had an argument with his coach Costa on the touchline over his positioning, making matters worse for Sporting Clube.
Ten minutes from the end of regulation time, Lalchhuanmawia found himself inside the box with ample space but his shot went inches wide, squandering a golden chance.
With a share of the spoils, Bengaluru FC moved level on points with Mohun Bagan with 22 and fourth-placed Sporting Clube have 14 themselves.
Meanwhile, Sporting Clube de Goa President, Peter Vaz was disappointed with the standard of refereeing and said, “For the greater good of Indian football the referring standards in I-league need to improve drastically. It isn’t one odd incident, we have seen this happen throughout. The Goan teams especially Sporting are at the receiving end always.”
The Blues have a week off after their AFC Cup commitments midweek but Mateus Costa’s side travel to Pune to play DSK Shivajians next weekend.
