Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy! Jamshedpur Football Club (JFC) broke their draw jinx in their sixth match this ISL season and how.
The Men of Steel, who took on FC Goa at the JRD Tata Sports Complex here on Thursday, pulled off a stunning 4-1 win powered by two goals from midfielder Michael Soosairaj early in the match and two more from Memo (Brazilian midfielder) and Sumeet Passi (forward from Chandigarh) in the final 15 minutes.
The onslaught from the home lads had put Goa on the back foot from the very start, as the Season V tie unfolded amid drumbeats and loud cheers from a 20,000-strong crowd in Bistupur.
The attacking game, in sync with JFC head coach Cesar Ferrando’s much-hyped style, did pay rich dividends. Finally. The stadium roared as Tamil Nadu-born Soosairaj converted a right flank cross from Sergio Cidoncha straight into the net in the 17th minute.
Goa scored an equaliser with a clever placement from Senegal’s Serigne Mourtada Fall in the 33rd minute. Soosairaj soon scored his brace by converting another Cidoncha cross in the 50th minute.
Sonari homemaker Sunita Sharma was ecstatic as Soosairaj drove in the lead. “Maza aa gaya. Aaj toh draw ka silsala tootna hi hai (What a match! We shall break the jinx tonight),” she cried from the southern stands.
JFC inched towards an emphatic win as Emerson Gomes de Moura, a.k.a Memo, scored in the 77th minute and substitute Passi in the 78th. A goal by Australian forward Tim Cahill in the 86th minute was declared offside.
Mobile torches lit up JRD complex as JFC won. “I had a hunch we would win,” beamed fan Mithilesh Jha at the northern stand. “It was a much better show by JFC,” said Abhishek Srivastava, a resident of Bistupur watching the game from the eastern stand.
Kumari Sweta, another fan, said JFC played reasonably well in the last home match against Kerala Blasters too. “Despite a 2-0 lead in the first half, they hadn’t been able to win the Monday tie. This is sweet success,” she summed up.
Michael Soosairaj scores his first goal in the match against FC Goa. Bhola Prasad
