Bengaluru: Bengaluru FC fell to their second defeat of the season after an Odafa Okolie brace handed Ashley Westwood’s men a 2-1 defeat against Sporting Clube de Goa at the Kanteerava Stadium, in Bengaluru, on Saturday. CK Vineeth drew level for the Blues who had fallen behind in the 9th minute only for the Nigerian striker to give a 10-man Sporting the win with a goal in the second half.
The Blues were hit with the early set-back when Sporting Clube capitalized on a rather careless giveaway by John Johnson. With the ball at his feet, the central defender chose to take off only to find his heavy touch intercepted by and then passed to Odafa whose hit from on top of the box flew past an outstretched Amrinder Singh.
Bengaluru, however, were handed a big advantage after Sporting defender Dharamaraj Ravanan was shown a second yellow card – this time for catching Alwyn George in the face with an elbow while the visitors were readying to take a corner. The Blues wasted no time in pegging Sporting back with a flurry of attacks. Lalchhuanmawia’s pace was too much for right-back Joseph Clemente, who kept getting beaten only for bodies in the box to put away the crosses that ensued.
Looking to build on the pressure they had put Sporting under, Bengaluru were swift to change gears as soon as the second half kicked off. The Blues came agonizingly close on the hour mark when Sunil Chhetri saw his header palmed away by Arindam Bhattacharya for a corner. Substitute Beikhokhei Beingaichho stepped up to send in a delivery that came off a Sporting head only to ricochet off the post and to safety.
Bengaluru did get their goal four minutes later when CK Vineeth’s shot from on top of the box took a deflection off a Sporting defender that sent Bhattacharya the wrong way as the ball sailed into the net to make it 1-1.
Looking good for a second, Bengaluru ended up conceding against the run of play with Odafa hitting home his second goal of the night – a rasping drive past Amrinder in the 73rd minute.
While the result doesn’t change anything at the top of the table, the Blues will look to regroup quickly before they take on DSK Shivajians at the Kanteerava on the 10th of February.