Goa thrash ATK 5-1, shut door on Blasters

MARGAO: FC Goa scored a thumping 5-1 victory against defending champions ATK at the Fatorda Stadium here on Wednesday. Sergio Juste, Ferran Corominas and Mark Sifneos scored a goal each along with Manuel Lanzarote’s double Goa emerged strong contenders for the Indian Super League playoff spot. Robbie Keane scored for ATK.

Goa are now fourth with 27 points, ahead of Jamshedpur who have 26. The two teams face off on March 4 in what will be a decisive match. With Goa notching up the win, Kerala Blasters are out of the contention for playoff.

The JFC vs FC Goa match on Sunday will decide the forth spot. A win here will pave way for either of the team to qualify, however Goa could make it with a draw as well.

ATK had made a good start but Goa took the lead when Hugo Boumous’ corner was met by Juste’s header. That opened the floodgates and five minutes later, Soram Poirei’s save from Mandar Rao Dessai’s curling effort went into the path of Lanzarote, who scored with a neat finish.

Goa tripled their lead soon after. Pronoy Halder played a glorious diagonal ball to Lanzarote who brought it down expertly, zipped past Ashutosh Mehta and found the far corner with a sweet shot.

Corominas had a chance to score within minutes but the cross from Narayan Das was just over his leap. He eventually scored in the second half from a clever freekick to make it 4-0. This was the third time FC Goa have scored five goals in a match this ISL season.

KERALA BLASTERS EYE CONSOLATION WIN

Kerala Blasters will look to finish their ISL campaign on a high when they face Bengaluru FC in their final league game of the season on Thursday.