Shillong, Aug 9: Former Indian Super League (ISL) league and shield winners FC Goa, went on top of Group F of the 133rd IndianOil Durand Cup, with an odd goal in three victory over Nepal’s Tribhuvan Army FC, here at the Jawahar Lal Nehru stadium on Thursday.
The Gaurs rode on goals from Lalthangliana and Sitroy Carvalho to put it across the Nepalese, who despite a second-half fight back which saw them reduce the margin through a Basant Jimba stunner, could not prevent a second successive loss. For the Gaurs it was a second win on the trot.
All 43 matches of the 133rd IndianOil Durand Cup will be broadcast LIVE on the Sony Sports Network (Sony Ten2 HD) as well as livestreamed on the SonyLiv OTT platform
The game saw the fastest goal of the tournament so far when just after kick-off, Devendra Murgaokar laid the ball through beautifully for Lalthangliana, who drove inside the Tribhuvan box from the right and made no mistake with the finish, neatly placing his right-footer into the bottom corner, past Bikesh Kuthu in the Nepal goal.
The game then settled down but neither side was able to generate a shot at goal in the entire first half. Tribhuvan Army did manage to put the ball inside the net once, but the goal was disallowed for offside.
Goa doubled their lead right after resumption when Sitroy Carvalho tapped the ball in after Devendra Mungekar had flick-headed back from the near post on to his path, off a corner.
Tribhuvan then launched a fight back creating a few chances and were rewarded when Basant Jimba, despite being surrounded by Goa defenders, unleashed a left-footed stunner from distance to bulge the Goa net.
The Gaurs were then down to 10-men when Sitroy was sent-off for a second bookable offence and Tribhuvan piled on the pressure. But the Gaurs defended admirably and pulled off the win.
Incredibly, there were just three shots on target in the game and all of them resulted in goals.
Double Header Tomorrow
I-League side Inter Kashi FC will look to end their campaign with a win as they face Indian Navy FT in a Group B encounter at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan which will have a 4 PM kick-off.
In the second match of the day, NorthEast United will look for their second consecutive win as they face BSF FT in a Group E encounter at the SAI Stadium in Kokrajhar. The match is scheduled to kick-off at 7 PM.
