Adrian Mutu salvaged his reputation, as a marquee striker struggling to find the net, with a stylish left-footed volley in injury time as FC Pune City clawed back against a confident FC Goa as the teams split points after a 2-2 draw in their ISL 2015 clash at the Balewadi stadium here on Sunday.
Eugenson Lyngdoh put the home team ahead, Rafael Coelho struck the equaliser before Jonatan Lucca put the visitors ahead.
The crowd then got into the act, spurring the Romanian Mutu into action with a swerve and left-footed volley to help his team draw level for the second time.
Goa remains in lead with 15 points, followed by Pune a point behind.
Zico started with five foreigners in the playing squad — Brazilians Lucio, Moura, Rafael, Lucca and Frenchman Gregory Arnolin even as Nigerian Dudu Omagbemi — drafted in as cover for the injured Darryl Duffy — watched from the dugout. David Platt, meanwhile, started with star signing Mutu as the sole forward.
Mutu got to the end of a pass, following a passing bout between Pune City from their own half, zipping the ball through the white shirts for the Romanian to deal the killer blow. He, however, did not connect cleanly in an attempted right-footed shot on the turn and goalkeeper Kattimani successfully rushed out to narrow the angle and block.
At the other end, Simonsen looked on helplessly as the ball rolled towards Haokip following a corner kick. The striker tried a tricky side-heel, the ball did not come on as swiftly as expected, and the visitors had wasted the best chance so far amidst end-to-end action.
Two goals, one by each side, livened up the spectacle. Didier Zokora took off from inside his own half, tapped the ball forward a few steps before bursting through. Goa closed in, but was left behind in Zokora’s wake, who then followed it up with a pass inside for Lyngdoh and a simple jabbed finish.
Rafael punched in Goa’s equaliser two minutes later. He floated free of his marker to receive a pass from his teammate, twisted into space and veered away from an onrushing defender to finally pick his spot in the goal confidently past Simonsen.
Both coaches showed their hand on resumption. Zico brought in Dudu upfront in place of scorer Rafael. Mandar Desai got a look-in for Haokip. Platt introduced Dutch midfielder Wesley Verhoek in place of defender James Bailey, Bikash Jairu came in for Jackichand Singh, Tuncay Sanli replaced skipper Zokora who walked off to applause.
The result: FC Goa (Rafael Coelho 34, Jonatan Lucca 44) drew with FC Pune City (Eugenson Lyngdoh 32, Adrian Mutu 90+3).
