On the eve of the match, Josep Gombau had asked his men to be wary about giving away set-pieces. On Wednesday, Odisha FC paid little heed to its coach’s advice, conceding thrice from dead ball situations to slump to a 3-0 defeat against Bengaluru FC at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium.
Goals from Deshorn Brown, who was handed his first start, Rahul Bheke and Sunil Chhetri handed Odisha its first defeat in five games and sent BFC top of the Indian Super League table with 25 points, one ahead of ATK and FC Goa, albeit having played a game more.
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Much of the home side’s football in the first half was reactive. But it nearly took the lead in the 15th minute when an excellent cut-back by Udanta Singh from the right flank found Brown, only for the Jamaican to fire wide from point-blank range.
The 29-year-old, however, made amends soon, scoring the opener on 23 minutes off a move that originated from a free kick after midfielder Martin Guedes had pulled Brown down in the inside right channel. Erik Paartalu rose high to meet Dimas Delgado’s ball and sent it goalward before Brown poked it in.
BFC doubled the lead barely two minutes later with Bheke slotting in from inside the six yard box. Delgado took the corner early and passed to Udanta, who shimmied past a defender close to the byline and crossed to Paartalu. The Australian struck a clean volley, but the ball ricocheted off Aridane Santana and fell to Bheke who buried it with his left foot.
Only goalie Arshdeep Singh kept the scoreline from getting humiliating for Odisha. But Guedes rounded off a miserable evening with another mistake, pulling down Paartalu inside the box to hand a penalty on the hour mark. Chhetri converted for his ninth goal of the season and put the result to bed.
The result: Bengaluru FC 3 (Brown 23, Rahul 25, Chhetri 61) bt Odisha FC 0
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