ISL 2018-19: FC Goa 1-2 Bengaluru FC, 5 Hits and Flops
Bengaluru FC secured a hard-fought 2-1 victory over FC Goa in the Hero ISL game at Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Fatorda.
Rahul Bheke and Sunil Chhetri were the goal scorers for the visitors and Brandon Fernandes was the goal scorer for FC Goa. Both the teams were reduced to 10 men in the second half of the game as Mohamed Ali was sent off in the early minutes of the second half after he received a second booking for handling the ball intentionally. And later Dimas Delgado was sent off for a high boot challenge on Hugo Boumous.
Bengaluru and FC Goa played a very entertaining game. With both the teams having almost equal possession of the ball. Rahul Bheke got his first ISL goal of the season in the 34th minute after he gracefully back-heeled a ball past FC Goa goalie Nawaz after receiving Xisco Hernandez’s off-target shot. At halftime, the score was Bengaluru FC 1-0 FC Goa.
Post resumption Mohamed Ali was shown his second yellow in the 47th minute after he tried handling the ball intentionally. In the 59th minute, however, Dimas Delgado was sent off for his high boot rough challenge on Hugo Boumous. In the 72nd minute, Goa’s Brandon Fernandes netted in the equalizer and restored parity in the match. But FC Goa’s joy was short lived as in the 77th minute Bengaluru FC skipper Sunil Chhetri headed in the winning goal of the match from Udanta Singh’s cross. Bengaluru FC went on to win the match 2-1 over FC Goa
Flop: Jackichand Singh
The 26 year old Indian winger was far beyond his best in today’s game. Jackichand Singh could have easily gotten at least 2 goals to his name but it just wasn’t his night.
Jackichand Singh had the pace but physicality wise he was bossed by Nishu Kumar on the right wing. Jackichand was caught offside 3 times in the match as he failed to stay behind the last man. Jackichand Singh’s first chance came in the 2nd minute of the match but he was well shielded of by Nishu before Gurpreet Singh Sandhu came off his line to collect the ball.
If Jackichand Singh could show better ball control and composure the game could have read a different scoreline. Jackichand Singh had just 40% pass accuracy in the 84 minutes that he was on the pitch.
Moments later Lenny played Jackichand a lovely long ball but Gurpreet Sandhu who hesitated a bit at first ended up making a good collection. Jackichand’s easiest chance came in the 65th minute after he failed to head the ball of a Brandon cross. He was later replaced in the 85th minute by Manvir Singh.