Vasco: Sporting clube de Goa`s title aspirations took a beating as they went down 1-3 to Mohan Bagan in a crucial I-League contest on Sunday.
Bagan, who were leading 1-0 at half time, scored through Odafe Okolie(44th, 79th) and Christopher Chizoba(70th) while Sporting Clube de Goa pulled one back through Rowllin Borges(78th) at Tilak Stadium.
The defeat keep Sporting Clube de Goa to fourth place with 29 points from 19 matches. While Mohan Bagan took their tally to 24 points from 10 matches.
A win was vital for both the teams as Sporting de Goa hoped to get their campaign back on track after failing to win a single game since the I-League resumed after winter break. They have two losses and a draws which saw them place at fourth place.
Bagan, who are aiming to avoid relegation zone, started with a flourish and Odafe Okolie had an early chance in the very first minute when Yusa Kastumi put him through with a long ball but shot out with only keeper at his mercy.
Few minutes later, Kastumi had an opportunity to score after he got the ball from the right but rival keeper Ravi Kumar did well to deny him from scoring.
Sporting quickly settle down and made inroads into the rival half and had a golden opportunity to surge ahead when Cajetan Fernandes from the left send a cross into the box for Boima Karpeh who failed to direct his header on target.
With Bagan mounting pressure in the latter stage of the first half, they finally found the net in the 44th minute through Odafa. Yusa Kastumi from the left made a run into the box with Keevan chasing him, he foxed him and gave a back pass to Odafe who slammed the ball into the net to give Bagan 1-0 lead at half time.
Sporting coach Oscar Bruzon made quick change in the second half bringing in Beevan D?Mello and Chinta Chandrashekar Rao in place of Royston D?Souza and Nallappan Mohanraj and later Ekweme for Pratesh Shirodkar and kept on attacking with steady passes but could not meet success as rival defenders did well to cut off the moves.
Christopher Chizoba than finally took the match away from Sporting when a nice build up from the middle saw him beat off side trap and placed the ball into the net to see his team comfortably out of the relegation.
Just when Bagan were running away with victory, Sporting struck in the 78th minute to keep them into the match. A move from the left saw Joseph Pereira send a cross into the box where Cajetan Fernandes headed to Rowllin Borges who took a rasping shot that found the net.
Bagan than made a counter move and Odafe than made the issue safe for them when he capitalised on keeper Ravi Kumar`s error for failing to intercept the ball as he came out of his charge and Odafe with an open goal put the ball into the net in the 79th minute.
Boima Karpeh than had a chance to reduce the margin but he shot over from close.
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