ISL: FC Goa demolish ATK 5-1, need another point to qualify for semifinals

Margao: It took FC Goa just 21 minutes to get the heavy weight off their shoulders at the Nehru Stadium in Fatorda on Wednesday.
For 10 matches over four years, FC Goa had failed to get the measure of their nemesis ATK. But in a fiery opening spell, Goa produced the most impressive performance of the season to sweep aside the defending champions 5-1 and send out a clear message that they should be counted among the challengers for the title.

Sergio Juste’s 10th-minute goal started it all, and in the next 11 minutes, Manuel Lanzarote scored twice to kill the match as a contest. Ferran Corominas, the man with the Golden Boot, scored his 16th goal of the campaign in the second session and Mark Sifneos also broke his goal drought as Goa seemed like the team of old that could leave opponents wondering when their misery would end.

When it all ended after 90 minutes, ATK would have been relieved that Goa added just two more to the scoresheet and the visitors had a goal of their own through captain Robbie Keane in the 88th minute.

This was ATK’s seventh loss in eight matches; they’ve got only one point since coach Teddy Sheringham left the club, and now with just one match left to be played, the two-time champions are in real danger of finishing at the bottom.

For Goa, this was not just another win; this was another timely reminder that should they get it all right, there is nothing that can stop them, not even mistakes at the back. They are now on 27 points, in fourth place, and will confirm their place among the semifinalists if they can hold Jamshedpur FC in the concluding league clash on Sunday. It won’t be easy in Jamshedpur, but for a side that has won consecutive matches with a four-goal margin, the belief should be unshakeable.

How they demolished ATK at Fatorda. Without four of their regulars in their starting lineup, Goa still managed to pack a punch and delivered the first blow in the fifth minute. Quite unusually, it came from a set-piece as Sergio Juste left Jordi Figueira for dead and headed home a corner from Hugo Boumous.

The next came five minutes later. Mandar Rao Desai, lively on the left, tested goalkeeper Soram Poirei with his weaker right foot and the keeper simply palmed the ball into the path of Lanzarote. The Spanish forward doesn’t miss from such range and scores like this in his sleep. Lanzarote got his second – and 11th of the campaign – when he controlled Pronay Halder’s long ball, sidestepped Ashutosh Mehta and calmly slotted home.

With such a demoralized and shambolic team, there was no way ATK would fight back in the second session. They tried, resulting in three yellow cards in the first five minutes, clearly a team that was frustrated and just waiting for proceedings to end.

There were sporadic moments when ATK looked pleasing to the eye. Robbie Keane, for example, tried to flick one ball at the first post and got one goal at the fag end. Sibongakonke Mbatha, the little South African, made some good runs on the left but it all came to nothing.

When the referee eventually blew the final whistle, Goa had added two more to their tally. Fittingly, it was Corominas who got the fourth goal, winning a freekick just outside the box and then converting it himself. Then Sifneos came off the bench to score his first goal for the franchise. This was a memorable night for Goa, and ATK were left with a miserable feeling for the first time in four years.