ISL 2024-25: Manoj’s late equaliser steals a point for Hyderabad FC; holds East Bengal to 1-1 draw
ISL 2024-25: Manoj’s late equaliser steals a point for Hyderabad FC; holds East Bengal to 1-1 draw
Former champion Hyderabad FC and East Bengal FC were locked in a one-all draw in the Indian Super League (ISL) match at the GMC Balayogi Stadium here on Saturday.
HFC made the first move as the duo of Isaac Vanmalsawma and Joseph Sunny interlinked in the final third after two minutes to test the EBFC defence. Issac’s pass was laid out for Joseph outside the box, but, instead of engaging in further build-up, the latter attempted a shot from distance that was blocked in time.
The home side kept the pressure up in the following few minutes, compelling Hijazi Maher to concede a corner in the 11th minute. As a consequence of that set-piece, Manoj Mohammad pulled off an aerial effort from the centre of the 18-yard box that missed the target on the right side.
After a spate of corners went begging, Edmilson Correia of HFC dazzled on the left side of the 18-yard box after receiving a pass from Isaac in the 41st minute, adjusting his movement and thundering a shot that missed the woodwork by a whisker on the right side.
Two minutes into the second half, Correia sprang into action again, deftly receiving a lateral delivery in the centre of the box from Cy Goddard, but shot it off target on the right side despite being in close distance from the goal.
It took a fantastic free-kick from Cleiton Silva in the 64th minute to create the move that broke the deadlock – Dimitrios Diamantakos won a foul and Silva stepped up on the ball and discharged an impressive delivery.
The ball smashed the crossbar, only to find Jeakson Singh pounce upon the rebound and bundle it into the centre of the net to get the visitors ahead, arguably against the run of play.
Hyderabad FC had the duo of Lenny Rodrigues and Devendra Murgaonkar coming in as substitutes in the 85th minute who swayed the game in their side’s favour, with Murgaonkar making an instant impact through an outside-of-the-box shot that, set up Abdul Rabeeh.
It didn’t land on target but showed that the home side was getting on the offensive before Correia trusted Manoj by passing the ball to him on the left side of the box. Manoj repaid the faith by holding his composure and dispatching the ball into the bottom right corner to rescue a point for his side from this game.
