Super Cup: Sanjiban saves penalty, helps Jamshedpur win

IT WAS ALL SQUARE AT THE END OF 90 MINUTES. AND THE SCRIPT STAYED THE SAME AT THE END OF 120 MINUTES TOO

BHUBANESWAR: Goalkeeper Sanjiban Ghosh turned out to be the hero of the match as Jamshedpur FC prevailed over I-league champions Minerva Punjab 5-4 in sudden death and enter the quarterfinals of the Super Cup here.

Jamsehdpur FC were through to the last eight of the tournamen’s inaugural edition when Gagandeep Bali’s shot was stopped by Sanjiban.

Kervens Belfort, Wellington Priori, Bikey, Sumeet Passi and Mehtab Hussain scored for Jamshedpur FC.

William Opoku, Eric Dano, Akashdeep Singh and Kamalpreet Singh found the net for Minerva Punjab in the shootout of an evenly contested contest that went the distance.

It was all square at the end of 90 minutes as the two teams headed for 30 minutes of extra time.

And the scoreline remained the same at the end of 120 minutes too, leading to penalty shootout at the Kalinga Stadium.

As the game headed towards the end of regulation time, both teams had had an almost equal number of chances at the goal, yet they failed to break the deadlock.

GOA LOOK TO CONTINUE THEIR ISL FORM VS ATK

Familiar foes FC Goa and ATK will cross swords in the Super Cup here, aiming to improve on their showings in the Indian Super League. The mainstay of FC Goa defence, Bruno Pinheiro, sees the tournament as “an opportunity to repay the fans” who had backed the team throughout the season.

“We have come here to win something and give our fans an opportunity to rejoice. The expectations were very high and we managed to go to semi-finals of ISL. Nevertheless, they backed us throughout and now we have to replay them,” the Portuguese defender said.

Coach Derrick Pereira stated that the players synchronised well during the ISL with head coach Sergio Lobera, who helped them reach the semi-finals.

“We had a decent season having reached the top four.”