Goa return to winning ways, hit Pune for four

 

FC Goa roared back into contention with a massive 4-0 victory over FC Pune City in a Hero Indian Super League clash at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Stadium, Pune, on Sunday.

 

Needing full points from this crucial battle, FC Goa opened the scoring through Manuel Lanzarote’s penalty in the 28th minute. Hugo Boumous made it 2-0 immediately in the second session and then Ferran Corominas scored a quick brace in the 58th and 65th minute to give Goa a much-needed boost.

 

 

 

The victory took Goa’s points tally to 24 from 16 matches. They are now placed sixth and will qualify for the semi-finals if they win their remaining two matches. Pune City are still second with 29 points from 17 matches and need a draw from their final league clash against Delhi Dynamos FC. And they will have to do that without their captain and leading goalscorer Marcelinho who picked up a red card in this game.

 

In today's encounter, Goa tasted success in the 26th minute when they won a penalty as Moroccan midfielder Hugo Boumous was brought down inside the danger zone by Adil Khan. In an attempt to clear the ball, Adil was slow to react and ended up fouling Boumous. Spanish forward Manuel Lanzarote stepped up and kept his cool to send goalkeeper Vishal Kaith the wrong way for the opening goal.

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Goa should have had their second goal in the first session itself. At the stroke of half time, Goa almost caught Pune on the counter when Ferran Corominas and Lanzarote worked their way up but Kaith came up with a spectacular close-range save to deny Corominas from adding to his 13 goals in the league.

 

Goa came out all guns blazing in the second session and caught Pune by surprise. A minute after restart, Hugo made a run to the right and calmly squared it to Lanzarote who hit it on target but Kaith made another spectacular save.

 

A minute later, Hugo struck the upright with a powerful left-footer but he finally got the goal he was looking for a few seconds later when he received a ball inside the box from Corominas, danced his way past a defender and finished it past a diving Kaith.

 

The Pune defence was caught napping again when Hugo back-heeled a sweet ball to set up Corominas and the leading goal-scorer made it 3-0. Corominas was soon to score his 15th goal and Goa’s fourth in the 65th minute from a penalty. The penalty was awarded after Mandar Rao Dessai’s cross was handled by Sarthak Golui and Corominas kept his cool to beat Kaith again from the spot.

 

Pune City didn’t test Goa goalkeeper Naveen Kumar as much as they would have liked with Marcelinho’s curler which went wide, the closest they came to finding some consolation. Marcelinho’s sending off in the 80th minute for a second bookable offence made it a miserable night for the hosts.