FC Goa contrived a deserving 1-0 win against an overtly defensive Chennaiyin FC, securing its first victory under Derrick Pereira, at the GMC Athletic Stadium in Goa on Saturday.
Chennaiyin began the contest with a free flowing attack as Mirlan Murzaev tried to score an early goal, similar to that against Bengaluru FC.
The Kyrgyzstani forward made a run in front of the box, and using Nerijus Valskis, who was running along the right, as a decoy, tried to go for the magnificent, only to see it fly off miles away from the target.
AS IT HAPPENED |
After that, it was just the Men in Orange (FC Goa) in attack, with the last twenty minutes of the first-half looking like a squash match as Pereira’s men practiced shooting against a white wall as a discombobulated Valskis failed to launch a single shot throughout his time on the field.
The Lithuanian, who had switched to the side he had won the Golden Boot with after leaving Jamshedpur FC, moseyed off the field in the second half to be replaced by the man who scored against his former side last time - Lukasz Gikiewicz.
The Gaurs came close to scoring in the 39th minute as Glan Martins’ long-ranger shot, initially saved by Debjit Majumder (the Chennaiyin keeper) fell for Ortiz, which he ended up side-netting.
When the second-half began, Goa had its foot on the gas yet again as Edu Bedia almost scored an Olympic goal (a goal directly from the corner) only to be denied by the woodwork.
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But it was Jorge Ortiz who stole the show with a phenomenal left-footed strike from outside the box in the 82nd minute as the ball headed home with Debjit having his jaw sagged at the hit.
The Gaurs climbed one place to eighth with the win, while Chennaiyin FC, with just two shots on target as compared to Goa’s nine, remained sixth with 14 points - a position it had started the match at.
The Result: FC Goa 1 (Ortiz 82’) bt Chennaiyin FC 0
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