Indian Player Ratings: Mandar Rao Desai sparkles in Goa's thumping win against ATK
Narayan Das and Pronay Halder also anchored the Gaurs' commanding success as the their playoffs quest continued.
FC Goa who were looking for three points against ATK to keep up with Jamshedpur FC were rampant on the night, as the Gaurs humiliated the two-time champions, ATK 5-1. Goa were dominant right from the start and had an excellent first half, Sergio Juste opened the scoring for the Gaurs from a Hugo Boumous corner. Manuel Lanzarote scored a brace and Ferran Corominas' excellent free-kick summed up a great night for FC Goa.
Khel Now takes a look at how the Indian players performed in the one-sided encounter dominated by FC Goa.
FC Goa
Naveen Kumar- 6-.0
The former Churchill Brothers goalkeeper was hardly tested in the 90 minutes, as ATK were pushed on the back foot with Goa's high pressing football. Kumar made some rare saves here and there but had a comfortable outing until Robbie Keane's deflected shot struck the post and went in. It was a good night for the goalie apart from the consolation goal scored by Keane.
Seriton Fernandes- 6.5
The local boy had a decent outing against ATK. He was good with his overlapping runs and link-up play in the first half. Seriton was also good in keeping Jayesh Rane quiet which he did very well. The 25-year old did have some problems with the arrival of Zequinha on the flank but still managed him pretty well.
Chinglensana Singh- 6.5
The young lad from Manipur was trusted in place of Mohamed Ali who has been a regular for FC Goa this season. Sana Singh did pretty well, hardly giving any space to attackers like Mbatha and Keane.
FC Goa co-owner Virat Kohli was there for the Gaurs in their crucial match
Narayan Das- 7.0
Narayan Das has been a stalwart in FC Goa's defence and last night was no different. The left-back made some excellent shifts from defence to attack, linked up with Mandar Rao Desai and caused all sorts of problems for the ATK defence.
Pronay Halder- 7.0
Pronay Halder is a man who worked tirelessly alongside Edu Bedia in the midfield, he was excellent in winning back possession and was great with distributing it too. His excellent long-ball for Lanzarote caught the ATK defence off guard and the Spaniard scored the third goal of the game.
Mandar Rao Desai- 7.5
The local boy was consistent again with his excellent runs down the left flank and linked up brilliantly with Narayan Das to completely bamboozle Prabir Das and the whole ATK defence. Mandar's shot from the left flank which was saved by Soram Poirei allowed Lanzarote to score his first goal on the rebound.
Substitutes
Liston Colaco- NA
The young local boy did show a glimpse of his talent right in the dying minutes when he whipped a ball into the box from the right flank but the FC Goa attackers could not convert from close range.
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ATK
Soram Poirei- 4.0
Soram had a tough night in Goa as his defence was all over the place and FC Goa were dictating play throughout the first half. He did make some saves but the rest of the shots were too good for him to stop. He was outclassed by the Goa attackers most of the time.
Soram dealt well with the Corominas shot despite the tricky bounce.
Prabir Das- 4.5
The former Mohun Bagan right-back had a difficult outing against FC Goa as he was struggling to contain Mandar and Narayan Das on the left flank. He tried hard but just couldn't match up with them. The continuously attacking threat increased his defensive duties and he was not allowed to go forward and support the team in attack.
Anwar Ali- 4.0
The veteran centre-back had a night to forget. Ali gave away the ball way too cheaply in dangerous areas, he had no communication with his fellow defenders and when FC Goa pressurised the defence it crumbled pretty easily. the 33-year allowed way too much space to the attackers be it Corominas or others and he even conceded a free-kick which resulted in a goal for the striker.
Ashutosh Mehta- 4.0
It is very hard to believe that the same Ashutosh Mehta won the I-league title with Aizawl FC last season. Mehta was all over the place at the back. He failed to contain Lanzarote and allowed him too much space and both times the Spaniard scored it was more or less his mistake. Mehta was out of position at times and fell prey to the high pressing game played by Goa.
Match Highlights
Rupert Nongrum- 5.5
The former Shillong Lajong midfielder also had a below-average match. He was losing possession in crucial areas in midfield and was well handled by Pronay Halder. He did try to put on some attacking forays and showed intent in the second half, but was neutralised by the Goa defence.
Shankar Sampingraj- 5.0
Shankar hardly got time to find his rhythm as Goa started their high pressing game. His Goan counterparts allowed him no time on the ball and hence he hardly had an impact on the first half. He had the intent at times to pass it to Rane on the flank or Keane upfront, but it was simply not his day as he was subbed off early in the second half for Zequinha. Jayesh Rane- 5.5
Jayesh Rane did start the match well as ATK had a good spell of play early in the first half but then FC Goa went rampant and dominated play. Jayesh did manage to link-up with Keane and Mbatha at times and even created a chance for the young South African right at the end of the first half. Bu,t the former Aizawl FC winger disappeared in the second half after was subbed off for Robin Singh.
Substitutes
Keegan Pereira- 5.5
Pereira came in for Mehta who had a pretty bad outing, but the 30-year-old did a commendable job after coming on. He neutralised the attacks on the left flank and FC Goa also were comfortable with possession play and were not pushing for goals.
[KH_RELATED_NEWS title="Related News"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS]Robin Singh- NA
Replaced Jayesh Rane in the 71st minute, but the Indian international hardly had any impact on the game.
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