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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.
Hit: Albert Serran
Albert Serran completely managed to mark Ferran Corominas the entire night and also warding away several attacking moves. The 34 year old Spanish midfielder bossed his centre back position denying Corominas the space to move.
The centre-back pair Serran and Juanan were at their best last night. Serran had a massive 95% pass accuracy last night. It was Serran’s deflection that caused the Brandon goal sending Sandhu in the wrong direction.
Nonetheless, Serran had a very good match to his name and can be proud of his performance securing the 3 points for his club. He managed to have 1 interception and blocked 2 shots. He made 6 clearances last night.
In the dying minutes of the match, Serran was able to keep the pressure on Manvir Singh as he had a very easy to score but shot the ball off target.
Flop: Mohamed Ali
Mohamed Ali was entrusted Sana’s role but was miserable at it. Keeping composure and having a cool head are some things he needs to work on apart from working on the defensive part of his game.
Mohamed Ali probably did not know what he was doing last night. The first incident was in the 7th minute when Ali fumbled with the ball just outside the box and Udanta didn’t take much time to pounce only to fire in a cross which was well collected by Nawaz.
In the 37th minute, Ali got his first booking after a completely needless and a reckless challenge on Xisco Hernandez. In the 47th minute, he was booked for the second time after he intentionally handled the ball as he tried shielding it from Xisco Hernandez. Ali was just horrible last night although he had 3 clearances in the 47 minutes that he played.
Hit: Rahul Bheke
Rahul Bheke the 27 year old defender managed to get his first goal in the ISL. He was good in the defensive as well as attacking game.
Rahul Bheke scored a lovely looking backheel goal in the 34th minute to silence the Goa crowd. Rahul Bheke got the ball from a Xisco Hernandez’s shot that was going off target but he guided the ball beyond the reach of Goa goalie Nawaz as Ahmed Jahouh watched the ball roll in the back of the net.
Rahul Bheke had another golden opportunity just before halftime after Mourtada Fall gifted him a ball just outside the penalty box. But his shot went a little too high and off the crossbar for a goal kick.
He played the entire 90 minutes as managed to make 2 crosses in the match. He was troubled by Brandon along the flank but was able to ward off most attacks. Rahul was praised by the team coach Carles Xiques in the post-match conference. He said that he was happy for him, as he works not only on his defensive game but also on his attacking game in training.
Flop: Dimas Delgado
The Spanish international had a night to forget after he was sent off in the 2nd half of the match.
The 35 year old apart from the average corner kick taken which led to Rahul Bheke’s goal had nothing in the match. He had 2 shots at goal out of which one was blocked but the other one was off target.
Delgado tried closing in on Coro but Coro was smart enough to dodge him only to get shielded by Serran. Delgado was sent off in the 59th minute for a nasty high boot challenge on Hugo Boumous.
The referee had no other option to show him the red. Delgado had a 69% pass accuracy to show in the 59 minutes that he played. Dimas Delgado tried to get involved in the match as he had 58 ball touches but couldn’t do much with it he also took 3 free kicks but nothing much happened.
