Newly promoted Pune FC held Sporting Clube de Goa to a 2-2 draw at Margao's Nehru Stadium on Saturday evening.
Pune took the lead through Jeje Lalpekhlua but the home side responded with a goal from Juniro Elijah. Derek Pereira's men went into the halftime break trailing as Bibiano Fernandes gave Sporting the advantage. But early in the second half Asim Hasan leveled the scores.
Pune got off to a flying start as they took an early lead through Jeje Lalpekhlua. Jeje got on the end of a Asim Hasan pass and slotted the ball past Sporting keeper Gerard D’Mello. Mello was at fault as he came out of his goal when it was not necessary.
Sporting took time to settle in the game but soon found the equalizer as Junior Elijah capitalized on a miss pass from Godwin Franco to Chika. The Nigerian got hold of possession and easily found the back of the net.
The home side were suddenly looking favorites to get the next goal with skipper Bibiano Fernandes looking in fine touch.
And it was Bibiano who gave Roy Barreto’s side the lead five minutes before the break as he converted a Nathaniel Amos cross from the right wing.
Pune made a quick start in the second half also as Asim Hasan broke the offside trap and scored after Mello had once again came out of his line at the wrong time.
A few minutes later Hasan also found the woodwork and was unfortunate not to give Pune the lead.
Sporting were dominating possession but were lacking the quality upfront. The Pune defence had a good game in the second half as they didn’t allow Sporting to create too many clear cut chances.
In the end both teams had to settle for a draw. This result leaves both teams without any win with Pune sitting at 10th place and two spots above Sporting Clube de Goa who have only one point from two games.
Source: Goal.com
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Sunday 18 October 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.