Confident Mariners would look to reduce its margin to the leaders when they take on struggling Kalinga Warriors in Saturday’s Indian Football League 2020-21.
Match Timings: Feb 06, 7:30 PM IST
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Habas’ men can now look for the top spot as Mumbai dropped points thrice in the last five matches, including a loss to Northeast. After a victory against Kerala, Mumbai and Kolkata giants are separate each other with six points. Three points on Saturday can reduce this margin to three and Habas’ side will also face Mumbai later in the month which can turn around the table in the pursuit of AFC Champions League qualification. Mariners secured a fine comeback victory against Kerala after going two goals down.
Kerala took the early lead in the 9th minute when Gary Hopper went past Bhattacharya. The first half went in favour of Kerala and one more time, Mariners didn’t score a goal in the first half. Costa doubled the lead for Kerala in the 51st minute to put more pressure on Habas. Rahul KP flicked Sahal’s corner, and Costa sent the ball into the net. Marcelinho opened the scoring for Kolkata giants and scored a goal on his debut. After five minutes, Kerala conceded a penalty, and Roy Krishna netted an equaliser to bring Mariners into the game. In the 87th minute, Roy Krishna completed a brace to secure a victory for his side.
Meanwhile, Odisha will have a tough task and they are still at the bottom with 8 points. The current scenario in the table assure that Odisha are going to finish this season at the bottom. In the previous match, Jamshedpur edged past them 1-0 at GMC Stadium. Jamshedpur could have scored more goals but they missed out plenty of chances. Arshdeep Singh made a good save to deny Seimilen Doungel a goal who made a fine run into the box. Doungel and Narender Gahlot added few crosses but Odisha stood hard. Nerijus Valskis also came close to strike and one more time, Arshdeep Singh produced a fine save with a dive. Peter Hartley also denied Odisha to create chances in the first half. After a prominent goalkeeping display, Arshdeep Singh made a mistake when Mohammad Mobashir tried to find Valskis in the box. Arshdeep Singh missed the cross and Red Miners scored a goal.
Diego Mauricio and Jerry tried to comeback for Odisha. Kalinga Warriors had appealed for the penalty when Mauricio fell to the floor after Stephen Eze made contact with his shoulder. The referee denied a penalty appeal. In the 82nd minute, Jerry offered a threaded a decent pass to Mauricio but the Brazilian was brought down by TP Rehenesh. Odisha deserved a penalty here but one more time, the referee denied it. One bad referral cost Odisha one point. Odisha have registered a complaint against the referee but it wouldn’t affect the points table. Odisha are five points to Bengal and they have to play a better game in next few games to avoid the last place in the table. Kalinga Warriors have just one win throughout the season which came against Kerala on January 7 and out of 14 matches, they lost eight times and five matches were drawn.
Possible Lineups & Current Form
Odisha
Arshdeep Singh, Gaurav Bora, Jacob Tratt, Steven Taylor, Rakesh Pradhan, Bradden Inman, Paul Ramfangzauva, Vinit Rai, Jerry Mawihmingthanga, Diego Mauricio, Manuel Onwu
Current Form: L D D L D
Previous Match: 1-0 defeat to Jamshedpur
Mohun B.
Arindam Bhattacharya, Pritam Kotal, Sandesh Jhingan, Tiri, Sumit Rathi, Prabir Das, Carl McHugh, Sheikh Sahil, Jayesh Rane, Marcelinho, Roy Krishna
Current Form: W L W D L
Previous Match: 3-2 victory against Kerala
Key Players
Odisha
Jerry Mawihmingthanga
4 assists in Indian Football League 2020-21
Diego Mauricio
7 goals in Indian Football League 2020-21
Mohun B.
Roy Krishna
7 goals in Indian Football League 2020-21
David Willimas
2 goals in Indian Football League 2020-21
