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FC Goa earned three crucial points as they romped to a 2-0 victory against FC Pune City at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Goa on Saturday evening.
Romeo Fernandes’ sixth minute strike and Miroslav Slepicka’s header in the second half injury time were enough to help Goa register only their second victory on home soil. They have now picked seven points from a possible nine in their last three outings as they climbed to the fourth spot with 12 points in their kitty.
FC Pune City are now winless in their last four outings with 12 points and placed sixth owing to their poor goal difference.
Zico made three changes to the Goan line-up as he brought in Bruno Pinheiro, Romeo Fernandes and Haroon Amiri in place of Robert Pires, Youness Bengelloun and Gabriel Fernandes.
Meanwhile, Franco Colomba dropped David Trezeguet on the bench with Dufu Omagbemi being handed a start. Davide Colomba, Israil Gurung, Pritam Kotal and Daniele Magliocchetti were left out as Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Park Kwang-II, Krisztian Vadocz and Lenny Rodrigues made their way in.
The very first minute saw Arindam Bhattacharya tip over Haroon Amiri's lob over the bar. A couple of minutes later, Bruno Cirillo played Gregory Arnolin onside as the Frenchman was one-on-one with the keeper as his shot was also blocked.
The breakthrough didn’t take too long to come as Romeo Fernandes headed in an Andre Santos free-kick from the right as he got the better of Anupam Sarkar at the near post.
In the ninth minute, Vadocz cross saw Debabrata Roy try prodding it to Jan Seda as Dudu almost encroached upon the mistake. However, Seda came too the home side’s rescue just in time.
Tolgay Ozbey had a chance to double the deal as he was found in space between Cirillo and Dharmaraj Ravanan inside the box by Narayan Das. However, the Australian striker’s right-footed effort bounced meekly in front of Bhattacharya in goal.
Around the half hour mark, Santos forced a save from Bhattacharya off a free-kick taken from about 25 yards out after Romeo was brought down by Jermaine Pennant while Seda responded well to two of Lenny Rodrigues' efforts few minutes later.
The FC Goa custodian was yet kept busy as he did well to deny Park from close range in the 39th minute before the South Korean headed wide in another attempt.
The FC Goa custodian was yet kept busy as he did well to deny Park from close range in the 39th minute before the South Korean headed wide in another attempt.
Seven minutes into the second half and substitute Joaquim Abranches shot a rebound wide after Dudu’s initial shot was blocked by Narayan Das.
Amiri’s shot was blocked in the 59th minute after he was found unmarked inside the box. Ten minutes later, Santos completely missed Mandar’s cross from the left from handshaking distance in the Pune box as Ravanan cleared the danger thereafter.
Lenny Rodrigues forced a superb low save from Seda after being setup by Katsouranis. Pune City were unlucky as Katsouranis and Cirillo’s efforts struck the post.
From a misguided clearance from a corner, Katsouranis’s overhead bicycle-kick clattered the crossbar and the rebound fell to Cirillo whose first time header stuck the upright and went out.
Miranda had a brilliant chance to add his name on the score sheet after he got on the end of Romeo’s through ball. However, Wadoo did well to shoulder charge him which saw the ball get away from the winger after Arindam Bhattacharya came off his line.
The hosts held on their two-goal advantage as Pune City have dropped ten points in their last four matches as they need to introspect and find their best form if they wish to make it into the knockout stages.
