FC Goa ensured its head coach Manolo Marquez could celebrate his 100th match as ISL coach when it scored a 2-0 win over former champion Hyderabad FC at the Gachibowli Stadium here on Wednesday. This also meant HFC’s dismal run at home continued since February 2023 — no win in 17 games.
It was Goa which dominated the first 15 minutes and made quite a few forays into the rival citadel with Ayush Dev Chhetri, Udanta Singh and Armando Sadiku working in tandem.
But to the credit of HFC defence, it was equal to the task and even changed gears soon thanks to a few smart moves by Edmilson Correia and Ramhlunchhunga. Substitutes Abhijit and Stephen Goddard looked good once each to score but were off-target.
However, it was Goa which shot into the lead thanks to a superb effort by Mohammad Yasir. He sprinted down the right flank and essayed a beautiful through pass to Udanta Singh on left-corner and he dodged past a couple of defenders to essay a right-footer which caught the HFC goalkeeper Lalbiakhlua Jongte on the wrong foot in the 33rd minute.
In the 44th minute, Goa made it 2-0 thanks to an opportunistic goal by Iker Guarrotxena, who latched on to a swift, short pass from Armando and then saw his left-footer deflect off HFC’s Stefan Sapic into the goal.
The result:
HFC 0 lost to FC Goa 2 (Udanta Singh 33, Iker Guarrotxena 44).
Published – December 05, 2024 07:02 am IST
