BENGALURU: Odisha FC and Bengaluru FC played out an entertaining 1-1 draw in the ISL at the Fatorda Stadium on Sunday. An early strike from Diego Mauricio helped the former take lead, but his strike was cancelled out by Cleiton Silva (82) in a contest, which could have gone either way.
Both teams, especially the Blues got their fair share of chances to score the winning goal, but their players failed to find the back of the net. This result also means Bengaluru have not tasted success in their last seven games.
Both teams got their fair share of chances to score a late winning goal, but neither managed to find the back of the net. However, Odisha goalkeeper Arshdeep Singh needs special praise as he came up with some big saves throughout the contest, which played an important role in the overall result as well.
Despite Bengaluru enjoying possession in the early exchanges, it was Odisha, who scored first as Mauricio scored from close range. It was a quick freekick and a cross from Manuel Ownu in the right flank, which met the Brazilian, who slotted the ball home.
Despite the goal, Bengaluru were quite comfortable in possession, asking questions to Odisha defence. Bengaluru lacked in the final third while Odisha were looking a threat, especially from the right side.
With Bengaluru known for scoring via set-pieces, they were using the same route on Sunday as well, and it nearly paid off, but goalkeeper Arshsdeep Singh stood firm. If he came up with a fine save to deny Paartalu in the 37th minute, Arshdeep made another diving save a few minutes later to stop Rahul Bheke's header.
With Bengaluru failing to open their account, Naushad Moosa decided to bring on Kristian Opseth for Ajay Morajkar in the second half. The substitution almost worked as the Norwegian’s long range free-kick tested the goalkeeper, who parried the ball away in the 48th minute.
It was a game, where Arshdeep remained in the thick of things as he made another brilliant save to keep his team maintain the lead. In fact, it was Odisha’s Gaurav Bora, whose clearance header came close to the goal in the 52nd minute.
Odisha almost doubled the lead in the 59th as Jerry Mawihmingthanga’s strike was stopped by Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, who made some big saves in the game. Few minutes later, on the other side of the ground, Cleiton Silva struck the framework of the goal from a direct free-kick. The second half proved to be even more exciting with end to end action.
Bengaluru eventually managed to equalise via Paartalu’s header in the 82nd minute after a fine delivery by Silva during a corner. With both teams in search of the winning goal, Odisha’s Daniel Lalhimpuia got a solid chance, but his shot hit the post. Immediately, at the other end, Sunil Chettri also missed a great chance as his shot went above the bar. Opseth got another opportunity in injury time, but he did not even test Arshdeep in goal.