Spirited Sporting Clube de Goa put up a great fightback as they came from behind to hold Salgaocar SC for a 1-1 draw in the 13th round exchange of the ONGC I-League played at the Nehru stadium, Fatorda, here on Thursday.
The draw spelled dooms for Salgaocar’s, as after leading 1-0 at the half-time through man-of-the match Felix Chimaokwu’s 26th minute goal, since they are at the goalmouth of facing relegation. Sporting restored parity in the 64th minute of the game through a penalty strike from Franco Denzil.
After the end of 13 rounds, Salgaocar is at the bottom of the point’s table with six points from 13 outings while Sporting collected 13 points from as many rounds. The first-leg exchange between the two teams had also ended in a 1-1 stalemate.
Both teams had got equal amount of chances to score but it was not only Salgaocar’s lack of ability to score, to their dismay, but also they couldn’t hold on to their first half lead, which forced them to once again split points with the local rivals.
Sporting had a first shy at the rival’s goal as Bibiano Fernandes extravagant pass inside the D went over Junior Elijah in the seventh minute and allowed goalkeeper Marcus Basumatari to make a clean collection.
Three minutes later, Salgaocar could have got the lead but this time Felix’s header off Nicholas Rodrigues’ free-kick hit the crossbar denying his team a sure goal and provided Sporting with an early amnesty.
Felix, who scored the opening goal tried his hard but couldn’t receive the able support from his teammates.
After Milagres Gonsalves gave Felix a fine pass with his deft placement, the Nigerian dodged past four Sporting defenders on the run and unleashed a perfect shot that too from a narrow angle to take his team ahead. It was really one of the best goals of the I-League that involved Felix’s sheer individual brilliance of skill and which also put Salgaocar ahead before the breather.
On resumption, the possibilities of Salgaocar scoring their first win in the I-league faded after their goalkeeper tripped Sporting’s Elijah Junior on the goalmouth, prompting referee Minangsu Bhattacharya (IFA) to instantly award a penalty in Sporting’s favour in the 64th minute of the play. Franco Denzil made no mistake in levelling terms from the 12-yard spot kick making the scoreline1-1.
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