ISL 2019-20: Santana brace hands Odisha FC first win at Kalinga

Aridane Santana's brace steered Odisha FC to a 2-1 win over Jamshedpur FC and also brought up the side's first home win at the Kalinga Stadium.

Aridane Santana celebrates after scoring for Odisha FC in the side's 2-1 win over Jamshedpur FC in the Indian Super League (ISL 2019-20) on Friday.

Odisha FC emerged victorious in its first home game at Bhubaneswar's Kalinga Stadium as it rode on Aridane Santana's first half brace to beat Jamshedpur FC 2-1 in the Indian Super League (ISL 2019-20) encounter on Friday.

The win saw Odisha improve its tally to 12 points in 10 matches and climb to the sixth spot on the ISL table, while Jamshedpur remains fourth with 13 points.

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The visiting side got off to a strong start and looked lethal in the first quarter of play, but it was Odisha that drew first blood. The host broke the deadlock before the half hour mark when Santana nicked possession near the halfway line and flicked it to Nandhakumar Sekar. The winger dribbled forward and teed it up for Santana. The Spaniard took a touch before slotting a neat finish past Subrata into the net.

Jamshedpur came back in fine fashion as it restored parity 10 minutes later. Narayan Das made a poor clearance and followed it up with clumsy challenge on Sumeet Passi inside the box to gift Jamshedpur a penalty. Aitor Monroy stepped up and slotted the ball into the right corner to bring his side back into the game.

Aitor Monroy struck from the spot to equalise for Jamshedpur FC.

 

Santana showed his class yet again as he fired a rasping volley at the stroke of half-time to propel Odisha into the lead again. Nandhakumar played a fine cross into the box for Aridane, who struck a brilliant first-time volley into the top corner to make it 2-1.

The Spaniard had a chance to complete his hat-trick soon after the change of ends. Nandhakumar beat his marker on the left and passed the ball to Marcos Tebar who laid it off for Santana, but the striker's shot lacked power and was an easy save.

Jamshedpur piled pressure on the Odisha defence as the second half wore on. Mobashir Rahman saw Francisco Dorronsoro off his line and attempted a long-range effort that flew over the bar. Farukh Choudhary missed a golden chance when Narender Gahlot delivered a teasing cross into the box, but the former's header drifted just wide.

All four of Odisha's defenders and the goalkeeper picked up yellow cards, but managed to get the job done as they held on to their solitary goal lead and sealed their third win of the campaign.