RFDL: FC Goa set up title clash with Bengaluru

Panaji: FC Goa stormed into their maiden Reliance Foundation Development League (RFDL) final with a 5-2 aggregate win against Punjab FC at Atal Stadium, Bambolim, on Wednesday.
Although Goa lost the second leg semifinal 1-2 against Punjab, their 4-0 victory in the first meeting helped them cruise to the summit clash.
The home side will now face Bengaluru FC in Saturday’s final. Earlier in the day, Bengaluru demolished Kerala Blasters FC 3-0 to complete a 10-0 win on aggregate.
Despite being down 0-4 from the first leg defeat, Punjab started brightly and had belief that they can crawl their way back into the tie. The visitors kept Goa on their toes and could have changed the outcome if they were clinical.
Vishal Yadav opened the scoring in the second minute itself, which provided them with plenty of hope. However, Goa eventually found their footing and Kavya Katkar equalised in the 24th minute with a composed finish.
Thereafter, Goa did not lose their guard even as Konsam Singh restored Punjab's lead late in the 83rd minute. Goa however had a heavy price to pay after influential centre-back Sitroy Carvalho was red-carded in added time for a second booking which could have been avoided.
Punjab started with purpose and took an early lead. A rasping volley by Omang Dodun was blocked by Goa custodian Lionel Rymmei but it fell straight to Vishal, who headed home from close.
Punjab roared in celebration and Goa were on the backfoot. Then, Punjab came close again when a long kick by their custodian found Vishal, whose effort missed the target narrowly, while Omang was left frustrated as well.
Goa were nowhere in the opposition half in the first 20 minutes. But they kept calm and scored three minutes later with a fine build up.
Sangam Shetye flicked the ball to Malsawmtluanga, who played the ball back to Sangam down the left flank. Sangam did well and found Kavya with a dangerous low cross. Kavya escaped his marker and finished neatly past Punjab goalkeeper Jaskaran Dub.
In the second half, the trend continued as Goa came close again through Bryson Pereira.
Meanwhile, Punjab lost steam and ideas. They, however, managed to reduce the margin seven minutes from time as Konsam curled in from outside the box.
Punjab substitute Ekmeet Singh’s header brushed the gloves of Jaskaran and hit the upright before being cleared by the defence.
There was 10 minutes of added time shown and Goa’s Sitroy picked up a second yellow card for bringing down Sameer outside the penalty area. Goa, however, maintained calm to book a final spot, their first in the competition.
The final will be played on Saturday at 4pm.
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