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FC Goa reached the summit of the Indian Super League points table once again with an exciting 4-2 win over Odisha FC at the Kalinga Stadium. Manuel Onwu's brace in the second-half threatened a comeback for Odisha FC but Goa held on to take all three points home.
As usual, FC Goa dominated the possession stats against a team that plays with similar philosophy but neither side threatened to break the deadlock in the first twenty minutes. It was only an unnecessary set-piece given away by Gaurav Bora in the 21st minute that led to Goa's first goal as Vinit Rai deflected in an Edu Bedia free-kick.
FC Goa received more fortune as Jackichand Singh's strike 24th minute was awarded as a goal even though Ferran Corominas was standing in an off-side position. Two minutes later, Jackichand Singh tapped in a superb low cross from Hugo Boumous to put Goa in a formidable position.
Odisha's new striker Manu Onwu, who is on loan from Bengaluru FC, scored the team's first goal in the 33rd minute but the linesman wrongly ruled it off-side to everyone's surprise. However, this didn't dent Odisha's confidence as Onwu scored two quick goals with crisp headers to provide hopes of a comeback to the home fans.
Yet, Goa held on with the prolific Ferran Corominas adding one more to his ever-enlarging goal-scoring record in the 90th minute to gift his side three important wins. While ATK does have one game in hand, Goa will occupy the top spot for now.
#3 FC Goa enjoy the rub of the green in the first half
The first 15-20 minutes didn't see much action in each team's final third. Although FC Goa dominated the possession, no clear-cut opportunity popped up for the hosts to go ahead.
However, it all changed when Odisha FC gave a silly free-kick just outside the box in the 21st minute. With Edu Bedia taking the set-piece that seemed to be going away from goal, Vinit Rai turned the ball past Francisco Dorronsoro to put FC Goa ahead.
Minutes later, Mandar Rao Dessai's neat cut-back to Jackichand Singh following a counter-attacking run down the left flank resulted in the Manipuri winger going for a half-shot/cross to the six-yard box. While the shot was certainly on target, Ferran Corominas was under the scanner for potentially interfering in the play while being comfortably off-side. With Coro missing his intended header, the ball rolled into the net to put Goa two to the good. Even as quite a few Odisha players protested the decision, referee Pranjal Bannerjee eventually awarded the goal to Goa after a discussion with the assistant referee.
These two goals acted as the sucker punch for an Odisha side that was already missing a number of their key players. If this wasn't enough, Manu Onwu's legitimate goal in the 33rd minute was ruled off-side by the assistant referee even though the Spanish striker was on by a huge distance. FC Goa's center-back Carlos Pena played Onwu on-side but the linesman had failed to notice it.
#2 Odisha pile more problems on themselves by awarding an early set-piece opportunity
Odisha FC has been guilty of conceding too many set-pieces either in the form of penalties or free-kicks right from the beginning of this season. This aspect of their gameplay was yet again in this match against Goa too as Gaurav Bora brought down Brandon Fernandes just outside the box.
Giving any team a free-kick opportunity just outside the box would be criminal and the foul was automatically even more problematic since they were playing FC Goa who has set-piece specialists in the form of Brandon Fernandes and Edu Bedia. Even though the latter didn't come up with an outstanding strike, the shot was still good enough to take a deflection off Vinit Rai's head to give Goa the lead.
This put the entire team's hard work in the initial few minutes to waste as FC Goa was finding it pretty difficult to find any opening through the Odisha defense. This was admirable considering that the visitors were missing two pillars in the form of Carlos Delgado and Marcos Tebar.
Their absence was amplified after the first goal as space opened up in the middle-third for Goa to run into. If Tebar was there, Jackichand might have not been able to receive his skipper's cut-back.
#1 FC Goa tighten up after a familiar stutter to close out the match
Just like how Odisha are known to gift set-pieces, FC Goa are also well-known to allow teams to come back into games from seemingly impossible situations. Even earlier in the season, Goa had gone 3-0 up at the Marina Arena before allowing Chennaiyin FC to score two goals which made the hosts think about an amazing comeback win. However, a Coro goal a few minutes later sealed the deal even as Rafael Crivellaro added one more goal to Chennaiyin's tally in the dying minutes of the game.
FC Goa did the same once again at the Kalinga Stadium as the pace of their surprisingly died down after their third goal went in. The likes of Mourtada Fall, Lenny Rodrigues and Edu Bedia held the ball without any positive motive with this phase almost allowing Odisha and Manu Onwu their first goal of the game. Luckily, Onwu's strike into the bottom right-corner was wrongfully ruled off-side.
The Gaurs still didn't seem to smell the coffee when the second half started as an inspired Odisha side cut the deficit to just one goal. This came as a result of FC Goa's tendency to let Odisha deliver crosses and also poor marking of Manu Onwu. After Fall and Carlos Pena let Onwu sneak in between them and score the first goal, the former was once again culpable for the second as Onwu got the better of their duel during a corner-kick.
Although Odisha continued to manage to get in crosses, Goa's back-line became far tighter with quick clearances helping them get out of trouble. This played into Goa's hands as they took advantage of the acres of space that Odisha left in a bid to comeback with Coro smashing home his ninth goal of the season.
