ISL: 10-man Odisha FC eke out 1-1 draw with Punjab FC, stay in playoffs race

Isak Vanlalruatfelas goal cancelled out a strike by Petros Giakoumakis as 10man Odisha FC held Punjab FC to a 11 draw in the Indian Super League ISL 202425 season at the Kalinga Stadium here on Monday nightA red card in the 44th minute to Rahul KP pegged Odisha FC on the backfoot as Giakoumakis opened the scoring in the first half The second half saw Vanlalruatfelarsquos strike level things up for the Juggernauts in the 52nd minute as they eventually salvaged a point from a tricky fixture Despite the draw both teams are well and truly in playoff contention heading into the rest of the matches Odisha FC now have 26 points and are placed seventh whereas Punjab FC are ninth with 24 points To put things into context the sixthplaced NorthEast United FC have 29 points to their namePunjab FC got off the blocks quicker than the hosts as they looked positive in the initial exchanges of the game Ezequiel Vidal made some telling moves in a free role as he found pockets of space near the Odisha FC final third He delivered a fine ball for Ivan Novoselec from a corner but it was blocked Later his exceptional cross found Petros Giakoumakis in the box and the Greek forward headed it past Amrinder Singh in goal only to get flagged offsideOdisha FC tried to maintain possession with patience and worked their way out of Punjab FCrsquos high press In the 20th minute Vanlalruatfela found Hugo Boumous through on goal with an intricate dinked pass However the Frenchman was marginally offside with his surging forward runAlso ReadIND vs ENG 3rd ODI Virat Kohlis form in focus as India eye cleansweep over EnglandIn the 26th minute Punjab FC had a great opportunity when Boumous gave away the possession in midfield Filip Mrzljak picked up the stray ball and made a marauding run through the middle However the Croatian decided to square it to Vidal rather than trying his luck and the chance fizzled outIn the meantime an unfortunate incident saw Odisha FC go down to 10 men as Rahul KP clipped Mrzljakrsquos ankle while the Croatian was down on the ground The referee was close to the incident and immediately handed him the marching orders Punjab FC made full use of the numeric advantage as Ricky Shabongrsquos through ball found Giakoumakis in space With only Amrinder to beat the Greek forward wasted no time in nestling it into the top corner and handing Punjab FC the lead in stoppage time of the first half 452rsquoSergio Lobera introduced Rahim Ali as the hosts prepared to tackle the second half with a numeric disadvantageDespite Punjab FCrsquos persistent attacks Odisha FC threw bodies forward to get back into the game Their efforts were rewarded in the 52nd minute when Isak and Diego Mauricio combined before the former tried his luck and on any other day it would have been a regulation save for Ravi Kumar However fate had other ideas as the veteran custodian failed to claim the ball properly and it crossed the goalline handing Odisha FC the equaliserIn the 64th minute Panagiotis Dilmperis freshened things up for Punjab FC with three changes Luka Majcen Asmir Suljic and Asish Pradhan came on for Giakoumakis Vidal and Suresh Meetei Majcen kept the Odisha FC defenders on their toes with his surging runs while Suljic pulled the strings from midfieldPunjab FC maintained their dominance in the second half but the visitors lacked quality in the final third and therefore they struggled hard to find the second goal In the 88th minute Mrzljakrsquos effort struck the post and Majcen picked up the rebound in the penalty area His eventual effort took a deflection off Rahim Ali on its way out It was a timely challenge from the substituteIn the stoppage time Boumous had the best chance of the second half to secure the victory for the hosts when Isak played him into space in the box But the Frenchmanrsquos shot was palmed away by Ravi Kumar as he compensated for his mistake earlier in the gameOdisha FC will play Hyderabad FC on February 14 whereas Punjab FC are scheduled to face Chennaiyin FC on February 15This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever