Durand Cup 2021: FC Goa oust Bengaluru FC in sudden death to enter final

FC Goa get the better of Bengaluru FC 7-6 via penalties after in the second semi-final of the Durand Cup 2021 at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, on Wednesday evening.

Playing out a 2-2 draw through the end of regulation time, with Sivasakthi Narayanan (1’, 83’) bagging the opener and a late equaliser for the Blues, Devendra Murgaokar (8') and Redeem Tlang (72') were on target for the Goan outfit. Naveen Kumar was the hero with two saves in the shoot-out that went into sudden death. 

Bengaluru could not have asked for a better start as Sivasakthi was quick to counter an attempted clearance by Naveen to break the deadlock, and minutes later it was Murgaokar who stepped up with his fifth goal of the tournament - now joint highest goalscorer with Mohammedan's Marcus Joseph - as the former Salgaocar forward nodded in a cross by Muhammed Nemil.

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Naushad Moosa was forced to replace injured Harmanpreet Singh with Bidyashagar Singh who saw a shot blocked soon after his entry, while a couple of Sivasakthi's efforts went wide.

In the second half, Edu Bedia's free-kick forced a diving save from Bengaluru goalkeeper Lara Sharma before Ferrando introduced Makan Chothe, Tlang and Aibanbha Dohling into the mix. Tlang then put Goa in the lead with a calm finish at the near post.

However, the game was far from over as Sivasakthi brought Bengaluru back in the game with a finish off Namgyal Bhutia's delivery with the Tamil Nadu forward completing his brace.

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The full time whistle of regulation time was followed by a gruelling extra time in humid conditions that could not produce a winner and the penalty shoot-outs came calling.

After Dohling and Wungngayam Muirang converted the first two penalties for their respective sides, Sharma pulled off a save off Tlang to be followed by Naveen blocking Akashdeep Singh.

Ajay Chhetri, Parag Shrivas, Bhutia, Ajith Kumar and Bekey Oram scored the other five penalties for Bengaluru, as did Sanson Pereira, Leander D'Cunha, Bedia, Chothe, Lalhmangaih Sanga and Christy Davis for Goa before Naveen denied Damaitphang Lyngdoh in sudden death to send the Gaurs through to the final.

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