10-man Sporting Clube hold Prayag United

Kolkata: A 10-man Sporting Clube de Goa held home favourite Prayag United SC 2-2 in a 17th round encounter of the I-League at the Salt Lake Stadium. The consolation of wresting a point from the host appeared to be obscured by two ejections as Sporting found two of their players -- Jovel Martins and Adil Khan – marched off with red cards.

Both sides came into the match riding on the confidence of winning their previous round matches. The Goa side found the lead early much against the run of play when midfielder Ogba Kalu bulged the United SC net with a long ranger in the 30th minute.

Before Sporting Clube could build on the advantage of their first-half lead, United SC restored parity just after the break. Seasoned James Singh did the finishing job in the 50th minute after he was released unmarked inside the Sporting Clube box by a fine pass from Brazilian Joshimar Da Silva.

United SC doubled their lead three minutes later when Sporting Clube defender Jovel Martins brought down Joshimar inside own box. The resultant penalty was scored by the United SC stopper-back Bello Rasaq.

The home side looked certain to preserve the lead as Martins received his second booking in the 57th minute reducing Sporting Clube to 10 men. But despite the numerical disadvantage the visitors clawed back into the game and found the equaliser in the 86th minute off their Sudanese striker James Moga.

Sporting midfielder Adil Khan received a red card after the match for misbehaving with referee Magho Singh. The drawn result had United SC totalling 29 points from 17 rounds while Sporting Clube had 24 points from 17 matches.