Chirag United hold Sporting Goa

Title aspirant Sporting Clube De Goa were held by Chirag United Sports Club to a 2-2 draw and split points in the 17th round of the ONGC I-League, played at Nehru stadium, Margao on Friday.

The first half was confined to midfield with not much of goal mouth thrill.

Sporting, who held more of the ball possession in the first half, took the lead in the 16th minute through Nathaniel Amos who shot off Wilton Gomes pass deflected rival defender and caught keeper Gopal Das off guard to find the far post.

Chirag United came out with renewed ideas showed lot of urgency in the second half, equalised in the 48th minute.

A combined move between Subair Muritala Ali and substitute Denson Devadas saw the later send a stiff grounder which found the back of the net.

Encouraged by the success, Chirag kept the rival defense under pressure as they raided the box more took advantage of the space provided by the rival defense and took the lead in the seventh minute.

Denson Devadas from the right sent a long pass to Sankar Oraon who beat keeper Felix D' Souza to find the far post.

Sporting made two changes to strengthen the midfield, they brought in Steven Fernandes and Bisheshwor Singh in place of Harmanjot Khabra and Biabiano Fernandes as they tried to find the equaliser and managed to score in the 85th minute.

Joseph Pereira from the left send a cross into the box for Luciano Bobrosa who relayed to unmark Wilton Gomes, the later tapped the ball into the net from close.

Chirag, who had the lion's shares of ball possession in the second half and scoring chances but their strikers particularly Subair Muritala Ali and Sankar Oraon muffed an easy chance from close range.

Subair Muritala Ali was also once unlucky to see his shot saved by keeper Felix.

With this draw, Sporting remained on top place with 35 points from 17 matches while Chirag United have collected 18 points from as many matches.