Pune: Pune FC were held to a disappointing 0-0 draw by a 10-men Sporting Clube de Goa side in an I-League Round 17 encounter at the Shivchhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi in Pune on Sunday.
The visitors were reduced to 10-men in first-half injury time after midfielder Rovan Pereira was sent off for a second bookable offense. Sporting played their heart out to salvage a point from the game.
With a point from the game, Pune FC stay fourth in the table with 30 points from 15 games while Sporting Goa stay 12th with 14 points.
Bruno Colaco though, didn’t have an auspicious beginning in goal, failing to read a routine long ball into his box, allowing James Moga to nip in. The South Sudanese striker too should have done better, but after rounding the keeper, he somehow missed an open goal.
Gurjinder Kumar then had the best opportunity of the half, but he failed to bundle the ball home, virtually from a yard out, after a Douhou Pierre’s freekick fell kindly in his path.
The half ended with Sporting reduced to ten men after Rovan brought down Karma Tsewang and was shown his second yellow.
Moga yet again failed to trouble the keeper, after he was found by yet another delightful cross by substitute Khangthang Paite, making it a hat-trick of heading opportunities spurned by the team in quick succession.
The hosts then missed another chance to go ahead, but this time it was more down to a fantastic save from Bruno, who did brilliantly to deflect away an Arata strike, after the midfielder was set-up by Douhou, with a clever ball across the box.
Moga’s torrid evening looked set to continue, when he failed to connect properly with a cross by Douhou, after a promising exchange between the midfielder and Subash Singh. The ball could have still gone over the line, as Bruno slipped at a vital moment. However thankfully for the custodian, Keita Boubacar was present on the line, to clear the danger.
In the dying moments of the game, Moga once again failed to finish after he was set up beautifully by Paite. The game remained goalless as the referee blew the final whistle.