Half Time Report: Half of equals ends with late Goa equalizer
FC Goa - Laxmikant Kattimani, Narayan Das, Luciano Sabrosa, Gregory Arnolin, Nicolau Colaco, Pronay Halder, Jonatan Lucca, Bikramjit Singh, Reinaldo, Darryl Duffy, Leo Moura
Kerala Blasters FC - Stephen Bywater, Marcus Williams, Bruno Perone, Peter Ramage, Sandesh Jhingan, Rahul Bheke, Mehtab Hossain, Cavin Lobo, Joao Coimbra, Mohammad Rafi, Sanchez Watt
A LATE LEO MOURA GOAL brought a sigh of relief for Zico as FC Goa finished the first half 1-1 tied with Kerala Blasters, who had taken an early lead via a Mohammad Rafi header.
With Sabeeth and Jofre out with injuries, Zico introduced Pronay Halder and Darryl Duffy into the starting line-up. Nicolau Colaco and Narayan Das also made it to the first eleven. Peter Taylor, meanwhile, made no less than five changes to the squad. Marquee Carlos Marchena was benched, so were Dagnall, Manandeep, Vineeth and Pulga. Sanchez Watt and Mohammad Rafi started up front, with Mehtab, Coimbra and Bruno Perone backing them up.
The half began with Kerala Blasters showing some early initiative. An early move from Coimbra saw him pass to Rafi who had a good opportunity to set Mohammad Rafi up but overhit the cross.
Coimbra then fouled Jonatan who went down in high drama, but failed to get the referee to produce a card. The resulting free kick, taken by Moura, was poor.
A minute later Moura tried to feed Bikramjit insidethe Kerala box but the ball went out.
Sanchez Watt and Rahul Bheke were continuous with their pressure on the FC Goa goal but some of the defenders, especially Gregory, were putting up a good effort. But all that came to naught in the 23rd minute when Rahul Bheke's cross found Mohammad Rafi with pin-point accuracy who beat Colaco to the ball and sent a deadly header past Laxmikant to get the visitors a crucial lead.
Down by a goal to Kerala, a team with a heavy defence, is never an easy prospect and Goa continued to struggle to recover from the situation. Kerala forwards, meanwhile, kept up the pressure. Watt's long ball to Marcus Williams saw the latter within scoring range but Colaco managed to avert the danger.
Things got dangerous for Goa when Luciano fouled Mohammad Rafi right outside the penalty box, and earned a yellow card. The free kick, taken by Cavin Lobo, put keeper Laxmikant to task but the custodian managed to get a touch on the ball, which went over the bar.
But at the death of the first half, Goa found their equalizer. It was a corner kick, which came right into the Kerala box, and keeper Stephen Bywater managed to puch it away. Unfortunately, the ball went straight to Leo Moura, who was completely unmarked. He made no mistake in shooting it right in. The hosts were level.
Getting the equalizer was crucial for FC Goa. They can now come into the second half and play their own game without being bogged down by the pressure of having chase the game against a remarkably tight 5 man Kerala defence. Kerala coach Peter Taylor, however, will be disappointed; what lost them their precious lead in an away match against a strong opponent was nothing but a defensive error.
The first half saw a contest between two equal squads and it's hard to call who can steal the upper hand in the second half. The onus is on the forwards now to produce more action in the second half as both teams are playing a cautious game, minimising risk on their defence however possible.
