ISL Pre-season friendly: Hyderabad FC see off FC Goa challenge

Manuel Marquez’s Hyderabad FC romped home to a comfortable 4-2 victory against FC Goa at the Don Bosco ground in Panaji earlier on Wednesday in what was both the side’s third pre-season friendly ahead of the upcoming Indian Super League (ISL).

Attacking midfielder Abhishek Halder scored a brace for the Nizams while young centre-forwards Lalawmpuia and Rohit Danu also got on the scoresheet. For Goa, the talented Makan Winkle Chothe and midfield mainstay Brandon Fernandes got the goals but it was not enough as head coach Juan Ferrando fielded an all-Indian side before bringing on captain Edu Bedia and Spanish centre-back Ivan Gonzalez for the last 15 minutes.

Hyderabad FC were coming off a 2-0 defeat against Kerala Blasters and a 1-1 stalemate against Bengaluru FC in their last two friendly encounters and today’s win should give Aridane Santana and co lots of confidence as they head into the final stretch of the pre-season.

https://twitter.com/HydFCOfficial/status/1326505496547749888

Goa on the other hand came into the match on the back of two impressive victories. They defeated Jamshedpur FC 3-2 on the 1st of November before going past Chennaiyin FC 3-0 a week later. The team is scheduled to play one more friendly game against a strong ATK Mohun Bagan outfit on the 14th as they look to finish pre-season on a high.

As we build up to the start of the season proper, there are a number of friendly encounters scheduled to be played out. Bengaluru FC will face Mumbai City FC on the 13th with the following day featuring Kerala Blasters and Jamshedpur FC apart from FC Goa’s meeting with Bagan. November 15th will see Odisha FC square off against Chennaiyin FC while SC East Bengal are in talks with Jamshedpur to hold another friendly between the sides on the 20th, the opening day of the new ISL season.