Sporting Clube de Goa hold Pune FC to an entertaining 1-1 draw
Victorino Fernandes’ equalizing goal helped Sporting Clube de Goa clinch a crucial away point from Pune. Thongkhosiem Haokip gave the home team the lead in the 53rd minute. Sporting Clube de Goa restored parity 10 minutes later from Victorino Fernandes’ strike in the 66th minute.
Both Pune FC and Sporting Clube de Goa looked desperate for a win from the very beginning of the match. It was an end to end affair as the teams looked to attack from the first minute.
Chances galore for both sides
Sporting could have found the first goal of the match at an early stage. Victorino Fernandes got an opportunity to score inside the penalty box. He fired a shot but was comfortably saved by Pune FC custodian Amrinder Singh.
Minutes after this move, Ryuji Seuoka could have found the back of the net but his shot went away from the goalpost.
Pune FC dominated the attack index in the first half by creating more goal scoring chances than the away side.
Around the half hour mark, Pune won a free-kick which was brilliantly curved by Brazilian defender Luiciano Sabrosa inside the Sporting Clube de Goa penalty box. Unfortunately, Haokip failed to reach the ball and it went away for a goal kick.
Haokip and Victorino score in second half
Pune FC got an opportunity to score in the early stages of the second half, when youngster Lalrempuia Fanai attempted a long ranger at the Sporting goal. Ravi Kumar acrobatically pulled off a diving save to guide the ball out for a corner.
Minutes later, Thongkhosiem Haokip broke the deadlock by scoring a tap in goal. The goal move generated from an unlucky deflection from Ravi Kumar. Haokip like an opportunistic forward capitalized the situation well in his favour.
Sporting recouped well and attacked in numbers. Boima Karpeh got a lay-off from Vicotrino from a counter-attack. Karpeh unleashed an attempt at the goal but Amrinder saved it brilliantly.
Victorino finally restored parity in the 66th minute from Beevan D’Mello’s assist. It was a clean finish from the Goan striker.
Since the equaliser Sporting piled up attacks on the home side but failed to fetch a winner.