KOLKATA: Ten-man Sporting Clube de Goa held home favourite Prayag United SC to a 2-2 draw in a 17th round I-League encounter at Salt Lake Stadium, here, Saturday. The consolation of wresting a point from the hosts appeared to be obscured by two ejections as Sporting found two of their players – Jovel Martins and Adil Khan – marched off with red cards.
Both sides came into the match riding on the confidence of winning their previous round matches. The
Before Sporting Clube could build on the advantage of their first-half lead, United restored parity just after the break. Seasoned James Singh did the finishing job in the 50th minute after he was released unmarked inside the Sporting Clube box by a fine pass from Brazilian Joshimar Da Silva.
United doubled their lead three minutes later when Sporting Clube defender Jovel Martins brought down Joshimar inside the box. The resultant penalty was scored by the United stopper-back Bello Rasaq.
The home side looked certain to preserve the lead as Martins received his second booking in the 57th minute reducing Sporting Clube to 10. But despite the numerical disadvantage the visitors clawed back into the game and found the equaliser in the 86th minute off Sudanese striker James Moga.
Sporting midfielder Adil Khan received a red card after the match for misbehaving with referee Magho Singh.
The drawn result saw United totalling 29 points from 17 rounds while Sporting Clube have 24 points from 17 matches.
