Odafa saves the day for Sporting Clube

Odafa gave the lead for Sporting Clube in the 70th minute but Mohun Bagan equalised in the 72nd minute through Katsumi Yusa. Again Odafa scored the all-important goal in the 89th minute.

The home side made only one change from their victory over Bharat FC with Nigerian Odafa replacing the suspended Anthony Wolfe.  Sanjoy Sen's side on the other, saw Debjit Majumder replace Shilton Paul on goal whereas Anwar Ali and Bikramjit Singh also came in the starting line up ahead of Kingshuk Debnath and Denson Devdas.

In the first half, the teams failed to open an account. 

It was Bagan who had the first look at goal when Sehnaj Singh tried his luck from the distance hoping to catch Debjit off guard, but Sporting Clube were lucky that the ball sailed over the bar. 

Sporting Clube had their moments in the early exchanges, but Dhanachandra Singh was well aware and made some good interceptions, first to deny Brandon Fernandes and then Odafa from getting close to goal.

Bagan despite seeing lesser of the ball early on carved up a good opportunity when Pierre Boya released Bikramjit Singh on goal but the attacker's shot was well saved by the Sporting Clube custodian. 

The hosts made an attempt to score in the 12th minute when Mahmoud Al Amna sent in a curling shot straight into the far post but Debjit made a fantastic save to deny goal. 

Minutes later, Bagan had a chance but failed to materialise when Norde sent his free-kick in a dangerous position but Sehnaj Singh failed to find the all-important touch and Ravi Kumar flicked it out for a corner.

Brandon and Odafa were turning to be a handful for the Bagan defence and on the hour mark, the duo combined again with Mahmoud, but Brandon's first time shot was just wide of the right side of the post. Later, the pace of the game slowed down with the teams playing with caution and in the midfield till the break. 

Sporting Clube started the second half with great intensity. Victorino Fernandes made a good run past Pritam Kotal and Sehnaj but the skipper was eventually blocked by Bello Rasaq.  Brandon had a chance minutes later to open the scoring but Anwar Ali came up with a fantastic clearance to deny the forward any chance.

Odafa then had the chance to rattle the Bagan defence but his poor judgement saw him miss the opportunity to pass to his teammates and instead send the ball away cheaply thereby spoiling a good goal scoring chance.

Sporting Clube made their first change in the hour mark when Biswajit Saha replaced the already limping Chinta Rao.

The Flaming Orange finally broke the deadlock in the 70th minute. Brandon set up Odafa with a cross from the left and the latter made no mistake to give his team the lead.

The goal was short-lived as Bagan two minutes later got the equaliser thanks to Katsumi. Norde’s cross was well met by Yusa who tapped it in past a helpless Kumar in the Sporting Clube goal. Minutes later, Victorino had the chance to get the lead back but his one-on-one encounter with the Bagan custodian saw Debjit come out victorious.

The teams made changes as Jeje Lalpekhlua came on to replace Bikramjit and Victorino was replaced by Marcus Mascarenhas.

The Flaming Orange continued to pile on the pressure towards the closing stages and Alber’s shot from Odafa’s pass was somehow denied by Debjit to keep the scores level.

Sporting Clube’s hardwork and constant pressure finally paid off right at the death in the 89th minute. Brandon’s cross from the right was cleared by Kotal but it fell straight to Odafa, who was not closed down timely by Anwar. The Nigerian’s powerful shot found its way into the back of the net to give Mathew Costa’s men the lead.