Hyderabad, Jamshedpur play out an exciting draw

Aridane Santana had scored his second goal of the campaign to give Hyderabad a 55th-minute lead. HFC remains unbeaten in the competition while JFC is yet to taste victory. It took less than five minutes for Hyderabad to launch its first attack.

Quick passing from HFC allowed it to venture deep into Jamshedpur territory, but Akash Mishra’s final delivery into the box failed to find Liston Colaco. Young Liston nearly got his name on the scoresheet when his 12th-minute free-kick beat the wall but failed to find the goal. HFC went ahead five minutes after the restart with Santana scoring off a rebound. Halicharan Narzary danced his way past Laldinliana Renthlei and pulled the trigger.

Goalkeeper Pawan Kumar only succeeded in diverting the ball into the path of Santana, who rolled it into the net. With less than 20 minutes left, JFC thought it had scored only for it to be disallowed by the referee. But its efforts finally paid off in the 85th minute when Eze fired home from inside the box.

Chinglensana Singh’s clearance off a Nerijus Valskis cross fell to William Lalnunfela, who laid the ball for Eze. The Nigerian made no mistake with his powerful shot.