A ten man Brisbane Roar suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of FC Goa in Bhausaheb Bandodkar Memorial Trophy Group A action at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Tuesday night.
A second half Armando Sadiku strike sealed all three points for the hosts against a Roar side who saw Ben Halloran dismissed in first half stoppage time.
Dejan Dazic had the best chance to break to the deadlock for the home side in the first half when he drove through the heart of the Roar defence before dragging a shot inches wide of the bottom corner from the top of the box in the 34th minute.
Harry Van Der Saag came close to finding the back of the net with a spectacular effort from range in the 39th minute.
Roar were reduced to ten men on the stroke of half time when Halloran was shown a straight red card for a seemingly innocuous challenge on Rowlin Borges.
Sadiku scored what proved to be the game’s decisive goal in the 51st minute when he slid home a first-time finish from close range after being played in by Borja Herrera.
Despite their numerical disadvantage Roar found the back of the net twice in the early stages of the second half.
Ben Warland had his header ruled out for offside before Thomas Waddingham was deemed to have fouled a Goa defender when turning the ball into the back of the net.
The ten men of Brisbane Roar were unable to find a breakthrough with the best chance of the closing stages falling to Boris Singh in the 88th minute, who forced Macklin Freke into a strong save with a diving header.
Roar now look to seal a Semi Final spot with three points against Sporting Clube De Goa in their final Group A match at PJM Stadium on Friday night.
Sporting sit bottom of the group without a point to their name after suffering a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Dempo in Tuesday’s earlier match.
MATCH DETAILS
Bhausaheb Bandodkar Memorial Trophy: FC Goa vs Brisbane Roar
Tuesday, August 27
PJN Stadium, Fatorda
FC Goa – 1 (Armando SADIKU 51’)
Brisbane Roar – 0
BRFC Team: 1. Macklin FREKE, 3. Corey BROWN, 4. Ben WARLAND, 5. Marcus FERKRANUS, 8. Walid SHOUR (43. Adam ZIMARINO 46’), 10. Florin BERENGUER (49. Ivan OZZI 81’), 16. Thomas WADDINGHAM (11. Jez LOFTHOUSE 62’), 17. Harry VAN DER SAAG (35. Louis ZABALA 70’), 23. Keegan JELACIC (21. Antonee BURKE-GILROY 62’), 26. Jay O’SHEA, 27. Ben HALLORAN,
Unused substitutes: 6. Joe CALETTI, 12. Lucas HERRINGTON, 29. Matt ACTON, 30. Quinn MACNICOL, 47. James DURRINGTON, 55. Joshua LAKKIS
