Two goals in the span of three second-half minutes helped Hyderabad beat Odisha 3-2 at the Tilak Maidan on Thursday night. The Nizams are currently three points clear of second-placed Kerala Blasters, having played two games more.
Hyderabad retaliated through Joel Chianese, Joao Victor, and Akash Mishra after falling behind to a late first-half goal. Meanwhile, despite putting up a fight until the end, the Juggernauts fell to their sixth loss of the season – the second-worst tally in the competition after NorthEast United (eight).
Odisha took the lead on the stroke of half-time against the run of play. Liridon Krasniqi stood off his marker on the edge of the box before releasing Nanda Kumar down the line with a reverse pass. Nanda’s pull-back across the box was bundled in at the near post by Jerry Mawihmingthanga.
Minutes after the restart, the Juggernauts nearly doubled the lead through Javi Hernandez, but his sensational volley from the right edge of the box rattled the inside of the crossbar.
A quick transition sprung by Sahil Tavora resulted in a 3-v-3 break for Hyderabad, during which Mishra found himself with space to cross from the left. The full-back’s rifled cross was met at the back-post by Chianese, and the Nizams found themselves with just six minutes of the second half played.
Denied a penalty minutes earlier, Hyderabad nevertheless took the lead in the 70th minute. Asish Rai won the ball high, and continued his run through the inside channels towards the box.
On the edge of the Odisha box, however, Victor took the ball off of his teammate, dug it out of his feet, and unleashed an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net. Three minutes later, Mishra nodded in from Mohammad Yasir’s inswinging set-piece to give his team some breathing space.
Hyderabad’s advantage was short-lived; Jonathas pulled a goal back in the 84th minute – and some goal it was. The forward collected a pass from Redeem Tlang on the edge of the box, opened his body and curled the ball just inside the far post.
However, his goal did not spark the comeback many had hoped it would. Hyderabad held onto their lead instead and subsequently went three points clear at the top of the table.
