Goemkarponn desk
Vasco: Former international Adil Khan rose from the bench to score the winner five minutes from time as Sporting Clube de Goa edged past league leaders SC Bengaluru in a 4-3 thriller in I-League 2 at Tilak Maidan, Vasco, on Thursday.
Alister Anthony, Doyal Alves and Biswas Darjee were the other scorers for Sporting.
Sporting’s third straight win took them to the fourth spot in the standings with 19 points from 11 games.
The Goan side also ended Bengaluru’s seven-match unbeaten run. However, Bengaluru still lead the standings with 24 points.
Sporting couldn’t believe the start they got. Just a minute into the game, Rohan Rodrigues ran down the flank and passed the ball to Doyal.
The attacker was tackled and dispossessed. However, the ball fell straight to Alister, who turned, twisted and fired in a grounder past Bengaluru keeper Niraj Kumar.
However, Bengaluru regrouped quickly and had more of the ball. A long ball from the back found Shravan Shetty, who made a daunting run into the box and was eventually blocked by Sporting captain Joel Colaco.
Shravan went to ground rather easily, and the referee awarded a penalty in the 14th minute which was converted by Thomyo Shimray.
Sporting were upset with the outcome but picked themselves up and put on a fight.
Doyal came close after a corner from Klusner Pereira. And Sporting finally scored the second before the break. Rohan moved dangerously inside the box and was brought down by Manoj Kannan.
Doyal stepped up for the spot kick, kept his cool and shot past Niraj.
In the 57th minute, Sporting scored their third. Alister played the ball to Biswa Darjee who took his time at the edge of the box and curled in a beauty.
Bengaluru did pull one back in the 70th minute after Thomyo’s half volley.
Head coach Armando Colaco soon brought in fresh legs in the form of Adil, Vidipt Dua and Liston Colaco.
With eight minutes to go, the referee awarded Bengaluru a controversial free-kick at the edge of the box which was converted by Johnson Mathews.
But Sporting didn’t give up. Five minutes from time, Klusner Pereira swung in a dangerous corner and Adil leaped highest to head in a sensational winner.
Sporting will next travel to Mumbai to take on Maharashtra Oranje FC on Sunday.
