NorthEast United FC shared the spoils with FC Goa in a scintillating 3-3 draw at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa on Friday in the Indian Super League.
Both teams went hammer and tongs with their respective frontline while the defenders had a tough day at the office. NorthEast United believed they had three points in the bag until Borja Herrera came up with a late stoppage-time goal to salvage a draw for Goa.
The Highlanders started the game on the front foot courtesy of their extremely flexible attack, with Jithin MS, Alaeddine Ajaraie and Nestor Albiach all interchanging positions. They were rewarded for the bright start as Albiach gave them the lead in the sixth minute. He worked his way past a crowd of Goan defenders before beating Laxmikant Kattimani in goal.
The Gaurs were caught off guard by the pace and trickery of NorthEast United’s frontline as Ajaraie almost doubled the lead for the visitors within three minutes of the first goal. Minutes later, FC Goa had a loud appeal for a penalty as Armando Sadiku went down in the box following a shirt tug by Michel Zabaco but the referee was completely disinterested.
The biggest opportunity of the first half came for Sadiku when he scuffed his shot wide from five yards following an exceptional low cross from Dejan Drazic. Two minutes later, Jithin controlled a long ball and released Ajaraie in space but the Moroccan’s subsequent effort was deflected out after Odei Onaindia threw his body on the line.
In the 45th minute, the hosts earned a penalty after Mohammed Ali Bemammer brought down Drazic in the danger area. Sadiku stepped up and got the equalizer.
The hosts had a perfect start to the second period as Boris Singh won possession in the danger area and he released Ayush Chhetri in space in the box, who found Sadiku with an intricate low cross. The Albanian made no mistake to hand FC Goa the lead in the 47th minute.
However, the Juan Pedro Benali-coached team retaliated brilliantly in the 51st minute as Jithin, Ajaraie and Nestor combined with the latter slamming the ball past Kattimani to bring the match back on level terms.
Five minutes later, the provider turned scorer when Ajaraie won possession in midfield and ran at the FC Goa defence with purpose. The Moroccan continued his goal-scoring streak with a vicious left-footed effort from just outside the box handing the visitors a deserved lead.
FC Goa came close to equalizing the score through Akash Sangwan in the 74th minute, but a full-stretched Gurmeet Singh denied his effort.
However, the hosts ended the match on a flourish with some relentless attacks. They were finally rewarded when Borja Herrera combined with Drazic and the former hammered it home past Gurmeet in stoppage time.
The Gaurs almost found the winner when Drazic found himself in space but Gurmeet held his fort brilliantly, allowing the Highlanders to salvage a point from the match.
NorthEast defender Robin Yadav was given the marching orders after he received his second yellow card for unfairly blocking Brison Fernandes.
