Kochi: FC Goa notched their 50th clean sheet in the competition and continued their formidable form as they edged past Kerala Blasters FC 1-0 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in the Indian Super League (ISL) match here.
It was an intensely cagey affair between the two teams on Thursday night, as neither was allowing an inch to their opposition.
It was an interesting midfield tussle, with the Kerala Blasters FC preferring their homegrown talents, Vibin Mohanan and Freddy Lallawmawma, against FC Goa’s Carl McHugh-led midfield.
The first opportunity of the game fell to Iker Guarrotxena when the Spaniard struck the post from a well-planned freekick. It was straight out of the training ground and it took the opposition defenders by surprise.
However, it was cleared away after hitting the far post with Sachin Suresh completely beaten between the sticks.
The Gaurs were relentless in attack post the 30-minute mark and their persistence eventually bore fruit when Sahil Tavora found Boris Singh on the right flank with acres of space.
The winger tried his luck from a narrow angle and to everyone’s surprise, Sachin Suresh failed to parry the ball away, eventually conceding in the 40th minute. It has been a tough inaugural season for Mikael Stahre with his team dropping points due to several individual errors.
One such incident happened on Thursday night with Sachin Suresh fluffing his lines which otherwise was a very regulation save. Now the goal handed FC Goa the lead at the break, allowing the visitors to dictate terms in the second period.
The Gaurs started the second half just like they finished the first one. They almost doubled their lead when Dejan Drazic was in behind the Blasters’ backline on a fast break. He wriggled his way past Pritam Kotal but was eventually denied by Sachin Suresh.
With Manolo Marquez’s men continuing their onslaught, Stahre decided to shake things up with wholesale changes in the 56th minute. He brought on the likes of Kwame Peprah, Korou Singh and Sandeep Singh replacing Jesus Jimenez, Rahul KP and Pritam Kotal respectively.
Peprah was off the blocks quickly with a brilliantly weighted diagonal ball to Noah Sadaoui. However, the Moroccan’s final ball intended towards Luna was expertly blocked by Akash Sangwan.
There was a spell in between which belonged to the hosts but the likes of Odei Onaindia and Sandesh Jhingan held their fort with aplomb.
In the 84th minute, Manolo turned to his substitutions as he brought on the trio of Armando Sadiku, Borja Herrera and Udanta Singh to freshen things up for the visitors.
FC Goa’s defenders were once again called into action by young Korou, who took two attempts on goal in quick succession but both times it was kept out.
The youngster was in a great position to equalise in the first instance but he was denied by an excellent block from Jhingan, who threw his body on the line to safeguard the lead for the Gaurs.
FC Goa will next travel to Hyderabad to face Hyderabad FC on December 4 whereas Kerala Blasters will lock horns with their arch-rivals Bengaluru FC on December 7.
