FC Goa were held to a draw for the very first time in the ongoing season of the Indian Super League (ISL) by ATK at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata on Wednesday.
There was plenty of drama before the match with FC Goa's travel issues which led to the kickoff being delayed by two hours and 45 minutes. But the drama on the pitch was provided by ATK's Robbie Keane (4') who opened the scoring and FC Goa's Ferran Corominas (24') who grabbed the equaliser, scoring his ninth goal in the ISL in the process.
Teddy Sheringham made one change as Keegan Pereira replaced Ashutosh Mehta. On the other hand, Sergio Lobera named an unchanged line-up from their defeat to FC Pune City.
It took less than four minutes for the hosts to take the lead through Robbie Keane. Taylor’s free-kick was headed home by Keane as Seriton Fernandes failed to keep a check on the Irish striker.
Ryan Taylor could have doubled the lead in the 11th minute as he capitalized on a mistake by Bruno Pinheiro but shot straight into the hands of Kattimani. This was after Keane played a brilliant through-ball towards the former Newcastle United midfielder.
Unfortunately, Sheringham was forced to substitute Anwar Ali as he picked up a knock and in came Ashutosh Mehta.
However, Goa equalized in the 24th minute through Ferran Corominas. The Spanish striker sprinted past Mehta and rounded off Debjit to make it 1-1.
Referee Srikrishna should have awarded a penalty to the visitors in the 39th minute as Brandon Fernandes was brought down by Prabir Das inside the box.
In the injury time of the first half, Edu Bedia had an attempt which missed the far post by a couple of inches.
Sheringham opted to introduce Rupert Nongrum for Prabir Das, who looked off colour especially when defending against Brandon.Taylor was slotted into the right-back position with Nongrum filling into the midfield.
Around the hour mark, Kattimani made a fingertip save to deny Zequinha as the Portuguese’s right footed shot was pushed over for a corner.
However, Goa should have certainly taken the lead in the 73rd minute as Corominas latched onto the ball from a throw-in and eased past Thorpe and from the byline, he played it into the feet of Mandar whose right footed shot was easily cleared.
Minutes later after Debjit conceded an unnecessary corner, Bedia almost scored from the flag-kick as his header went inches over.
Both teams failed to make an impact in attack in the closing stages as they shared the spoils in Kolkata.