Hyderabad FC suffered yet another reverse at home, as substitute Manvir Singh fashioned FC Goa’s 1-0 win in the Hero ISL at the GMC Balayogi Stadium here on Sunday.
Goa now has 12 points from seven matches while Hyderabad continues to languish at the bottom with four points.
Manvir, who came on in the 62nd minute, showed fine opportunism when he positioned himself well for a free-kick off Brandon Fernandez from the right.
Heading home
Realising that the tall Giles Barnes was right in front, Manvir leapt in the air and headed the ball which hit the turf and bounced into the top, right corner, leaving Hyderabad FC custodian and captain Kamaljit Singh stunned.
It was a Goan show in the second session with midfielder Hugo Boumous being all over the rival territory, thanks to his speed, skill and amazing ball control. He worked in tandem with Seiminlen Doungel and Eduardo Pelaez, and the trio had the liberty of a rock solid defence with Chinglensana Singh being exceptional.
Though there was flashes of brilliance from Marcelo Pereira and Mohammed Yasir, the team once again lacked cohesion and direction.
Earlier, it was Goa which survived an early scare when Rafael Lopez header was just off the target.
The closest Goa came to scoring a goal was in the 12th minute against run of play when Boumous had a splendid run down the centre straight into the box only to be thwarted by an alert defender Matthew Shaun.
Doungel was it again, time coming down the centre in the 22nd minute to essay what looked a near goal but saw the Hyderabad FC captain and custodian Kamaljit Singh save it with his usual smart approach.
The result:
Hyderabad FC 0 lost to FC Goa 1 (Manvir 68).
