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A flamboyant FC Goa eased past NorthEast United FC to win the tie 3-0. Local boy Romeo Fernandes, Miroslav Slepicka and Brazilian marquee player Andres Santos found the target for the home side. This was the sixth consecutive match where Goa have been unbeaten and have won three matches in a row.
With this win, they now move up to second position in the Indian Super League table.
Romeo Fernandes scored the 100th goal of the tournament
Fernandes scored the 100th goal of Hero Indian Super League to give FC Goa the lead in the 33rd minute. Romeo ran down the right wing and played a one-two with Slepicka and found the back of the net with ease.
The Czech forward increased the lead in the 46th minute. NorthEast United then won a corner which was collected by Jan Seda with ease. He found Mandar Rao Desai on the left who made a brilliant run down the wing. Unable to find support, Desai lost the ball but the away team failed to clear it from the danger zone. Miroslav Slepicka intercepted the ball and passed it to Bickramjit Singh. The latter passed it back to the Czech forward who finished it quite easily.
FC Goa dominated the midfield for the entire first half and Ricki Herbert missed the services of Joan Capdevila and Robin Gurung due to suspension. In their absence, he opted for a 3-5-2 formation. Koke started as a striker in the beginning, but after Keene came on as a substitute in the 35th minute, Koke came down to midfield.
NorthEast United failed to make a strong comeback in the second half
NorthEast started the second half on a positive note but failed to create goal scoring opportunities. FC Goa, on the other hand, depended on quick counter attacks. Herbert made a double substitution bringing in Tomas Josl and Alen Deory, but the change did not help their cause.
Andre Santos put the last nail in NorthEast’s coffin when he scored the third goal in the 74th minute. Narayan Das ran down the left flank and passed the ball to Santos, who dribbled past two defenders with ease and scored. FC Goa never lost their grip on the game and confidently dominated for the majority of the match.
Today’s defeat took the away team down to 6th place. They now have an uphill task to make it to the semi-finals.
