From the moment Noah Sadaoui lashed in a penalty on the tenth minute, FC Goa were in complete charge of the destiny of their match against Mohun Bagan at the Salt Lake stadium. In a game that ended 4-1, the only serious question posed was whether Goa would be able to extend the scoreline into an embarrassment.
With Brandon Fernandes pulling the strings, Victor Rodriguez and Carl McHugh controlling midfield and Noah running amok behind the lines, Goa looked every bit the unbeaten table-topping trailblazers they have been this season. Goals from Noah (2), Victor and substitute Carlos Martinez were enough to overpower the sole Dimi Petratos goal.
The first came from a Manvir Singh error: where he could have been penalised either for handball or a kick on Odei Onaindia. Noah stepped up and powered an unstoppable drive into the bottom corner. Goa's second was a work of art with Brandon and Noah exchanging passes before the former picked out Victor on the edge of the box. Victor then played a spending one-two with Carl McHugh who was in the six-yard box... and ended up tapping it in from close range.
The third saw Brandon play in Noah with a lovely ball down the inside left, and then the latter twisted Deepak Tangri's veins in a knot before using the Bagan man to curl a lovely shot into the far bottom corner, around the diving Vishal Kaith.
Noah then gave away a rather silly freekick, some forty yards out, by pushing Armando Sadiku over (because Bagan had not kicked the ball out with Victor down injured). Petratos lined it up from that outrageous range and curled one into the top corner. This was seven minutes into stoppage time at the end of the first half. It was a stunning goal that gave voice to a Salt Lake that had been silent for most of the first half.
Juan Ferrando gambled at HT and made multiple substitutions... but Brendan Hamill had to pull out of the game after suffering a hamstring injury; and that came after Ferrando had made all five of his allotted substitutions. 10-man Bagan stood no chance as Manolo Marquez introduced fresh legs at key intervals to keep the energy up. Two of those subs combined to make the fourth. Saviour Gama seized on an Anirudh Thapa mistake inside the Bagan box and drew a foul. Carlos Martinez stepped up and rolled the ball into the net after sending Kaith the wrong way.
Goa remain top of the ISL with three points and a game-in-hand advantage over the Kerala Blasters, while Mohun Bagan remain fourth, four points behind Goa.
Goa will now play NorthEast United in Guwahati on December 29; Bagan will host the in-form Blasters on December 27.
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