ISL: Hyderabad FC winning run continues, beat Odisha FC 1-0

Hyderabad Football Club continued their fine run as they defeated Odisha FC 1-0 for another impressive run in front of their home

Hyderabad: Hosts Hyderabad Football Club continued their fine run as they defeated Odisha FC 1-0 for another impressive run in front of their home crowd in the ISL at the GMC Balayogi Stadium at Gachibowli in Hyderabad on Saturday.

This is Hyderabad’s fourth consecutive clean sheet. They now have 13 points from five games and consolidated the top spot in the table. Hyd FC coach Manolo Marquez decided to bench Bartholomew Ogbeche as Borja Herrera took his place in behind striker Javier Siverio.

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The deadlock was broken inside ten minutes. Halicharan Narzary was twisting and turning on the left flank before whipping a cross past Meitei. The cross was headed into the bottom right corner by an unmarked Yasir in the eighth minute. Sixteen minutes into the game, Herrera tried his luck from range, but his effort flew wide of goal. Three minutes later, Raynier Fernandes limped off with an injury and was replaced by Isaac Chhakchhuak.

At the half-hour mark, the hosts were presented with a glorious opportunity to double their lead. Nikhil Poojary sprinted into the box from the right flank and opted for a lob towards Narzary instead of a low pass. The ball bounced right in front of the winger as his shot flew over the bar.

Odisha FC head coach Josep Gombau made one change at halftime as Pedro Martin came on to replace Diego Mauricio. Six minutes after coming on, the Spaniard dodged his marker before getting a shot on goal. However, the effort lacked power and was collected comfortably by the keeper.

Two minutes later, Nandhakumar Sekar crossed the ball in from the left before Jerry Mawihmingthanga’s header was blocked by Akash Mishra. On the counter, Joao Victor slid the ball through to Hitesh Sharma but the midfielder could not keep his shot on target.

Ogbeche came on for Siverio just before the hour mark. The Nigerian had a great opportunity to score in the 70th minute. His powerful close-range strike was saved by a diving Amrinder Singh.