FC Goa held Odisha FC to a 1-1 draw at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar as the top-of-the-table clash of the Indian Super League produced a gripping 1-1 draw with goals in the first half by Roy Krishna and Jay Gupta.
The result ensured that Odisha FC held on to their top spot in the league table, but they failed to build a significant gap to the second-placed team who are with 28 points from 12 games – as compared to the 31 of Odisha FC in 15 encounters.
Odisha FC began the game on the frontfoot, charged by their dynamic left winger Isak Vanlalruatfela. The industrious attacker barged into the box and showed quick footwork before squaring up a pass in the middle for Krishna.
The ball was well dealt with by the FC Goa defence, but Amey Ranawade recovered possession on the right channel of the field and curled in a peach of a delivery for the Fijian forward, who was stationed merely yards away from FC Goa defender Arshdeep Singh.
Krishna has been in red hot form this season, and he brought up his 11th strike of the ISL season by merely flicking the ball past Arshdeep, leaving the custodian with no chance to put a stop over the shot.
But FC Goa weren’t backing down without a fight – Gupta rose to the occasion to smash in a screamer of a shot to draw the scores level, and help them secure at least a point from this difficult away encounter.
It all started from a throw-in on the right side, but Brandon Fernandes was quick to spot a slightly disorganised Odisha FC defence on the left flank of the field. He lobbed a ball inside the box, hoping for someone to grab hold of it, but a sloppy clearance led to the ball leading up to Gupta who was sprinting ahead. Wasting no time, the fullback launched a venomous shot that shook Odisha FC goalkeeper Amrinder Singh and hammered the ball into the back of the net.
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