Both Sunil Chhetri and Cleiton Silva scored their third goals of the season as Bengaluru FC defeated Odisha FC 2-1 in a 2020-21 Indian Super League game at the GMC Stadium in Bambolim on Thursday.
With scores tied 1-1, a long pass was headed into the path of Deshorn Brown by fellow BFC substitute, Udanta Singh. Brown then teed up Cleiton and the forward sealed the winner for the Blues in the 79th minute.
Earlier, Odisha had a fair goal disallowed when Diego Mauricio released fellow striker Manuel Onwu upfront with a through-ball in the ninth minute. Onwu found the back of the net but much to his dismay, the linesman raised the flag for offside. However, replays showed that the OFC player was clearly onside.
From there, the Kalinga Warriors were on the backfoot as Bengaluru created a host of chances and dominated possession.
In the 38th minute, BFC broke the deadlock when midfielder Dimas Delgado changed flanks with a pass to Harmanjot Khabra on the right. The full-back controlled the ball well and sent a cross into the box. Chhetri then leapt higher than Odisha defender Shubham Sarangi to head the ball past goalkeeper Arshdeep Singh to give his team the lead.
This was the Indian skipper’s 50th goal contribution in the league. He has 42 goals and 8 assists from 80 appearances in the ISL and only former FC Goa forward Ferran Corominas has more.
Meanwhile, Ashique Kuruinyan, who was making his 50th ISL appearance, wasn’t able to fully enjoy the milestone as he was substituted in the 55th minute due to a possible concussion. The Bengaluru winger was tripped by OFC’s Jerry Mawihmingthanga and he was eventually taken to the hospital.
Just moments before second-half cooling break, captain Steven Taylor equalised for Odisha. He made a wonderful run during a Jerry free-kick and beat custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu with a full-stretch flick across.
Unfortunately for his club, Bengaluru bagged the full three points.
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