Odisha holds it to a draw; both sides miss gilt-edged chances in a frenetic finish
Bengaluru FC’s winless run extended to seven games as it could only draw 1-1 against Odisha FC at the Fatorda Stadium in Goa on Sunday.
After Erik Paartalu’s header on 82 minutes had cancelled out Diego Maurico’s early strike, the game saw a frenetic ending wherein both teams had gilt-edged chances to secure all three points. The best of the lot fell to BFC forward Kristian Opseth in the dying moments, which he fluffed by blazing over from five yards out.
Minutes before that Odisha midfielder Jerry Mawihmingthanga — who was excellent through the game — drew a high quality save from Gurpreet Sandhu and Daniel Lalhlimpuia saw his shot brush off the post. For BFC, Sunil Chhetri blasted a shot over the crossbar from close.
Earlier, an unchanged BFC started confidently but it was Odisha that took the lead in the eighth minute.
Chhetri uncharacteristically misplaced a pass and Parag Srivas fouled Jerry to stop Odisha’s breakaway.
But Jerry was up in a flash and set Manuel Onwu free on the right flank, whose low cross was tapped in at the far post by Mauricio.
A fairly sedate half hour followed before Odisha custodian Arshdeep Singh came up with two fine saves. He dived low to his left to keep out Paartalu’s left-footed strike and then parried away a powerful Rahul Bheke header by diving sharply to his right.
After the restart, Arshdeep was in action again, first to keep a swerving freekick from Opseth away and then ward off a botched clearance from defender Gaurav Bora. On the hour mark Onwu found Jerry with a splendid through ball, but it was saved well by Gurpreet.
With barely 10 minutes left, Silva’s corner found the back of Paartalu’s head before going in off Arshdeep’s outstretched right arm. It then set-up a tantalising finish.
The result: BFC 1 (Paartalu 82) drew with Odisha FC 1 (Mauricio 8); JFC 0 drew with HFC 0.
Monday’s match: Chennaiyin vs Mumbai City, 7.30 p.m.
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