Before Wednesday’s match, FC Goa had never beaten ATK in the three and three-quarter seasons of the Indian Super League.

Before Wednesday’s match, FC Goa’s Ferran Corominas had alone scored more goals that the entire ATK unit this season of the ISL.

Before Wednesday’s match, FC Goa were in a tight spot over their semi-final chances.

Only one out the three facts mentioned above are still true, after Wednesday’s match in which Sergio Lobera’s team notched a dominant 5-1 win at home; ATK’s heaviest loss. Coro has 16 goals in 17 matches, ATK has 15.

Not only did Goa crush their opponents in a crucial match, they did so in style with prolific goals and an attacking game. While ATK haven’t been the best of units this season and Goa’s performance was far from complete, the solid win in their last match at home so close to the semi-finals was a strong message to all other title contenders. With co-owner Virat Kohli cheering on, they made sure they were on the ball, pushing forward at every given chance and sparing no quarters.

The effect was evident in the scoreline, three goals in the first 21 minutes, a passing accuracy of 78%, with about 60 more passes than ATK. Of course this being Goa, there was no clean sheet with the ATK goal coming as late as the 87th minute. Any other team would have probably scored a couple more, but ATK couldn’t capitalise on as many as 12 shots at the goal.

Free-flowing football

The Spanish combination of Manuel Lanzarote and Coro shone through for Lobera’s side once again with Lanza scoring a brace in a time span of six minutes.

But the scoring was opened by Sergio Juste who headed the set piece goal into the net in the 10th. The first few minutes were all ATK, but in the ninth, Hugo Boumous completed a sharp move only to be saved by Soram Poirei and earn a corner.

Once the tally was open, the Goan frontline began their onslaught. In the 15th, Lanza cut through the defence nice and easy and Poirei’s fall in the box gave him all the space and time to ease the ball in the net and double the lead with his 10th goal for the club.

Not to be left behind, Coro almost got another in 17th, but was saved by the fingertips by the ATK goalkeeper. But the resistance didn’t last long as Lanza took the ATK defence for a ride and curled a great shot with his left foot to score his second.

There were a lot more shots on goal from the Goans, especially by the Spanish combination, but the next goal came only in the 64th, when Coro got a free kick and an opportunity to get on the score-sheet after several misses. The season’s top scorer didn’t miss this time as he curled it in the left corner with the goalkeeper watching it whizz past him.

ATk g0t a consolation goal in 87th with Robbie Keane scoring after a string of misses. But Goa twisted the knife in further with Coro’s substitute Mark Sifneos scoring as late as the 90th to cement their status at the team topping the goal scoring tally at 39 goals.

Backline needs more work

The end result of the game could be described in a single line – Goa took their chances and the created some more while ATK missed them as often as they missed the shots on target.

But while the scoreline helps, it doesn’t mask Goa’s problems. Right from the lineup, attack was the plan for Lobera. But “you score two, I score three” technique works only to an extent. Despite being on top of the goal tally, they have had only one clean sheet in 17 games. Even in this match, it was only the number of ATK’s misses that stopped it from being an all-out goal-fest. It was a slugfest though, with nine yellow cards.

For now, Goa remain a free scoring team at both the front and back lines. The challenge for Lobera will also be to manage their best weapons up front, while balancing the backline deficiencies. Will the Coro-Lanza one-two punch be able to score consistently past strong defences like Jamshedpur, where their next and last league match will be? A draw there will suffice, but the test will be much more crucial with one foot in the playoff already.