Chirag United Kerala scored a late equaliser against Salgaocar Goa to end its losing streak in the home matches in the I-League football at the University stadium here on Saturday.
P.K. Anilkumar scored in the 88th minute after the home-side trailed by a Marcas Mascarenhas 30th minute goal. The Chirag equaliser came as a result of a mistake by Salgaocar captain and defender Luciano Sobrosa who lost the ball to young Usman Ashik just outside the Goan penalty box.
Usman, after stealing the ball from Luciano, moved up through the left wing and his precise cross came to Anilkumar who warded off the challenge from two Goan players and beat goalkeeper Vinay Singh with a low right-footer.
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Till the equaliser, the script was very much in favour of the Goan side which after initial struggle had outsmarted the host and was on the verge of nailing full points from the tie.
Chirag's new strike force of David Sunday and Anilkumar failed to impress. Both Sunday and Anilkumar had a look each at the rival goal inside the first 15 minutes but their efforts were not good enough to test the goalkeeper.
The Goans slowly wrested control of the midfield and striker Chidi Edeh was a constant menace for the Chirag defence. Chidi did the spadework for the opening goal as he bore his way into the Chirag's penalty area and his cutback from the line was slotted in by Marcus Mascarenhas.
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Chirag nearly scored the equaliser in the 32nd minute but Salgaocar goalkeeper Vinay Singh thwarted Sunday who did well to connect a cross from Noushad.
Goans had the better of the exchanges early in the second half and created a few half-chances.
The best chance for the Goans to increase the lead came in the 60th minute when Rinto Anto broke free from left wing but his cross was headed out by Marcus Mascarenhas.
With the match slipping out of his hands, Chirag's coach Pakeer Ali made timely substitutions that eventually saw the host attack with more vigour.
Chirag continued to press hard for the equaliser and Usman repaid his coach's faith in him with a bit of opportunism that paved way for the equaliser.