Mapusa: Bengaluru FC today defeated Salgaocar 2-1 in an exciting Airtel I-League tie played at Duler stadium in Mapusa today.
Bengaluru FC scored in each half through John Menyongar (in 21st minute) and Beikhokhei Beingaichho (in 57th minute) to clinch the thriller. Salgaocar, though failed to convert a penalty in the stoppage time, pulled one back through Gilbert Oliveira in the 23rd minute.
Though the win takes Bengaluru FC to 18 points from 10 matches but Salgaocar are still ahead on a better goal difference.
Bengaluru FC started brightly as they held more of the ball possession and had an early chance to take the lead but Thoi Singh failed to score-off a measured cross from Sunil Chhetri.Chhetri himself than tested rival keeper Karanjit Singh from a distant who parried the ball away to safety.
The visitors piled on the pressure and John Menyongar put his team up in the 21st minute as he curled the ball to find the far post beating Karanjit.
Salgaocar, which surprisingly failed to find their attacking style from the flanks, showed lot of character and did not lose heart as they found the equaliser a couple of minutes later through Gilbert Oliveira with a blistering shot from 30-yards.
The goal spurred the home team as they slowly found their groove with their midfield taking control of the proceeding, but were not able to penetrate deep into the rival box. This led to both the teams trying hard to outsmart each other to take a lead in the half time.
After the change of ends, the visitors once again took the lead in 57th minute. Sunil Chhetri, who posed a lot of trouble to the rival defence, initiated the move on the left as he relayed the ball to Thoi Singh who cut past rival defender and sent a cross for Beikhokhei who made no mistake in finding the back of the net.
Salgaocar coach Derrick Pereira made tactical changes bringing in Caetao Costa and Karma Tsewang in place of Claude Gnakpa and Clifton Dias to boost their midfield as both the team attacked each other's citadel but could not meet success as both teams played more physical game.
Salgaocar went all out in search of the equalizer in dying minutes but the rival defenders did well in securing their citadel with Osano doing a commendable job to see his side collect full points.
The closed Salgaocar came to score in the 87th minute when substitute Milagres Gonsalves failed to connect the ball into the net off Gilbert cross.
They even won a penalty in the stoppage time after Johnson fouled Darryl Duffy inside the box but the latter could not convert it as keeper Pawan Kumar made a save to give the visitor their first away win.
