 "FC Goa")
FC Goa secured a place in the playoffs despite splitting points with Punjab FC following a 3-3 draw in an Indian Super League match here on Monday.
Wilmar Jordan, Luka Majcen and Juan Mera scored for the home side while Carl Mchugh, Noah Sadaoui and Carlos Martinez were on target for the Goan outfit.
FC Goa started the match on a positive note with Raynier Fernandes testing the home team goalkeeper Ravi Kumar from long range.
The Goan outfit received two corners with the second one from Borja Herrera finding Carl Mchugh inside the box. Mchugh's thunderous left-footer found the top corner to give Goa an early lead.
Punjab started to attack with purpose and got success in the 54th minute. Madih Talal found Wilmar Jordan inside the box, who fed the ball to his striking partner Luka Majcen. Luka's attempt at goal fell in the path of Jordan who just had to tap it in for the equaliser.
Punjab struck the second blow just seven minute later with a perfectly-worked counter attacking goal. Melroy Assisi won the ball in his own half which was passed to Khaimingthang Lhungdim who rolled it to Madih Talal.
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The Frenchman found Luka Majcen, who ran ahead of Seriton Fernandes and hit a left-footed pile-driver that saw goalkeeper Dhiraj Singh rooted to his spot to give Punjab the lead.
Goa started to put pressure on Punjab and were awarded a penalty for a foul on Boris Thangjam. Noah Sadaoui converted the penalty to make the scores even.
Punjab struck back soon after through another counter-attack. Madih Talal found Juan Mera with a precise pass. The Spaniard foxed Jay Gupta and his pin-point shot found the bottom corner of the net to give the lead for the home side.
Goa found the equaliser in the 84th minute through substitute Carlos Martinez. An attack from the left wing fell perfectly for the Spaniard, who converted with ease.
Punjab jumped to seventh position in the table with 21 points from 19 matches while FC Goa qualified for the playoffs and are fourth in the table with 33 points from 18 matches.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
