Fireworks, drama douse Atletico de Kolkata rally to down Goa

Margao: Fireworks came to the fore as Atletico de Kolkata staged a grand rally to silence FC Goa and its fans with a stunning 2-1 victory at the Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, on Thursday.
It was in keeping with the festive mood and ambience. The crowd got their money’s worth as the encounter threw up a Molotov cocktail packed with drama, explosive goals, bone-crushing tackles even as blood, sweat and probably a few tears, flowed in the 90-minute-plus encounter.
For added effect, it culminated in an explosive exchange of words and a physical clash between Atletico de Kolkata coach Antonio Lopez Habas and FC Goa marquee player Robert Pires as the teams trooped out of the playing arena towards their change rooms.
If Santos’ cracker of a goal in the 21st minute brought the house down, Cavin Lobo’s strikes in the 72nd and 84th minute for Atletico silenced the fans momentarily before sustained pressure from FC Goa almost fetched them the equalizer in the dying minutes. Debabrata Roy found the upright while Santos blew away a golden opportunity from handshaking distance.
Goa stitched together short passes in their build-up with Pires being the fulcrum. Though slow, he marshalled well and drew great support from Peter Carvalho and Andre Santos who were outstanding. Somehow, they never got the goals they should have.
Atletico on the other hand orchestrated most of their attacks from deep with skipper Borja Fernandez and Jose Miguel making every effort to find the imposing Fikru Tefera or the nippy Joffre Mateu. But it was Cavin Lobo who turned the game on its head with spectacular strikes.
Atletico’s fire in the attack, Tefera, began to flicker after sparkling for the first half hour until he fouled FC Goa stopper Gregory Arnolin who turned tormentor for the speedy and tricky Ethiopian. Arnolin kept breathing down Fikru’s neck, snapping at his heels and denied him even a single close look at goal. That frustrated Fikru who has been the most impressive striker in the ISL so far.
Fikru’s rage came to a boil by the break and he had an altercation with the Frenchman before head-butting him a second time when the players were trooping out to the change rooms. The first head-butt got Fikru a yellow card in the 33rd minute. That and a further warning from referee Christopher Perso forced him to cool his heels and somewhat doused the fire in him for fear of a second yellow card and eventual ejection.