Resolute Goa play out a 1-1 draw against high-flying Hyderabad
Goa played their first draw of the 2021-22 Indian Super League season as they held Hyderabad to a 1-1 stalemate. Joel Chianese broke the deadlock for the Nizams in the 54th minute with an easy header while Airam Cabrera restored parity for the Gaurs in the 62nd minute from a perfect rebound.
Goa head coach Juan Ferrando went ahead with a similar formation which saw them bag all three points against Bengaluru bringing in Airam Cabrera in place of suspended Jorge Ortiz as one of the two forced changes. The second change to the starting XI saw the injured Glan Martins making way for the young Princeton Rebello.
On the other hand, Manolo Marquez replaced Edu Garcia in the starting lineup with Joel Chianese as his solitary change which proved to be a masterstroke as the Australian winger bagged his first goal of the season and helped his team secure a point.
The game had a high octane start with plenty of tackles and subsequent bookings. The first player to go into the referee’s book was Rohit Danu in the 26th minute for a high boot challenge. Minutes later, Seriton Fernandes restored parity as he also got booked for his constant argument with the referee. Chianese soon joined the duo in his attempt to unlawfully win a penalty.
Cabrera almost broke the deadlock for the Gaurs when he netted in a great cross from Seriton Fernandes only to find his effort getting disallowed for offside. Both teams had everything to play for in the second half as the first half did not provide any goals.
In the 54th minute of the match, a brilliant run followed by a tempting cross from Nikhil Poojary was headed home by Chianese to give the Nizams a 1-0 lead.
Airam Cabrera scored the equalizer for Goa
However, their joy lasted only eight minutes, when a daunting run by the young Devendra Murgaonkar caught the entire Hyderabad defense off-guard and his shot struck the post and fell kindly for Cabrera, who made no mistake slotting it past Laxmikant Kattimani.
The former Cordoba striker could have immediately given Goa the lead when he tried a clever dummy from a Seriton cross but none of his teammates were on the same wavelength.
Around the 72nd minute, Ferrando injected fresh legs by introducing Sanson Pereira in the place of Saviour Gama while Marquez also made a couple of changes by bringing in Sahil Tavora and Javier Siverio to replace Hitesh Sharman and Chianese.
The next phase of the game saw a few half-chances and loads of unnecessary tackles, one of which forced Asish Rai to leave the pitch.
The last big chance of the match fell to the Nizams when Aaren D’Silva reclaimed possession in a very dangerous area. The young striker’s shot was brilliantly saved by Dheeraj Singh from a close range and the rebound fell to Siverio but the former Racing Santander striker’s shot was blocked by a defender.
In the dying minutes of the game, Kattimani pulled off a heroic save to deny Alberto Noguera the chance to claim the limelight by scoring the winning goal of the evening.
With this draw, Hyderabad moved to second place in the standings leapfrogging Jamshedpur and Chennaiyin on the basis of goal difference. They will now take on bottom-placed SC East Bengal on Thursday while Goa will be up against Odisha on Friday.