Bengaluru : Bengaluru FC added an eighth consecutive win to their comeback story and confirmed a top-four finish after a 3-1 win over FC Goa in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Thursday.
Sivasakthi Narayanan added two more goals to his season’s tally and Pablo Perez came on to score the third for the Blues as they ended the Gaurs’ playoff race and confirmed Odisha FC’s entry as the sixth and final team in the playoffs.
In the opening five minutes of the game, the hosts won three consecutive corners and broke the deadlock with the third one. The ball was curled into the box for the third time by Roshan Naorem and an unmarked Narayanan headed it in from close range to give the hosts an early lead.
FC Goa needed a win and nothing else to stay alive in the tournament. Less than five minutes after the opener, Noah Sadaoui’s cross from the left flank picked up a couple of deflections before finding its way through to Redeem Tlang. The winger got his shot away from a tight angle but Gurpreet Singh Sandhu had his near post covered. Tlang was denied by Gurpreet again minutes later, this time from 25 yards out. At the other end of the pitch, a free kick from Naorem found Sunil Chhetri, who was denied by Dheeraj Moirangthem.
Parity was restored three minutes after the half-hour mark when Sadaoui was allowed time on the left flank to whip in an inch-perfect cross that was nestled into the bottom right corner by Iker Guarrotxena. Minutes later, under the Spaniard’s pressure, Rohit Kumar failed to keep his header on target as the Blues failed to retake the lead almost instantly.
