Kozhikode: Abhijit Sarkar’s 77th minute strike was the difference, as a gritty Indian Arrows bounced back in style after three consecutive defeats to see off an unsettled Gokulam FC 1-0 at the EMS Corporation Stadium here on Friday.
Sloppy on the field, the southern Outfits were lucky not to concede before Sarkar scored from the rebound after Gokulam custodian Bilal Khan could palm away a long Rahul Kannoly shot only as far as the attacker from Kolkata.
Local boy Rahul whirled past the home defence with a dazzling run on the left channel, before rifling one from the edge of the box that went straight at Khan, who surprisingly found Sarkar and the latter made no mistake, slotting the ball home to notch up his second goal in as many matches.
Matos had earlier started his strongest side that saw the return of Boris, Jeakson and Anwar Ali into the starting line-up. The three had sat out in the 0-1 defeat against Lajong and their return emphasised how desperate were the young colts for a win after a hat-trick of losses.
Their hunger was visible when two minutes into the match Aniket Jadhav burst ahead with a powerful run, before bombing one that escaped just wide above the bar. The Arrows settled in quickly and were clearly the better team passing the ball around with ease. But it was Gokulam who had the better chances to score as the match progressed.
A wonderful Francis Xaviers free-kick found the newly recruited Odafa Okolie unmarked inside the box, who however disappointed with a header that was far from target. The move would prove costly for Gokulam later as Boris nearly put the visitors ahead in the very next moment.
The experienced Nigerian brought to solve Gokulam’s goal-scoring woes failed expectations for the second consecutive match, cutting off a rather frustrating figure in the field. His wastefulness parallel to his failure to hold possession whenever the hosts surged forward eventually forced Bino George to replace the 32 year-old for Mahmood Alajmi at the hour-mark.
It however got better for the Arrows after the break with Rahim Ali coming close to breaking the deadlock barely seconds after play had restarted but the miss didn’t make much difference as Sarkar found the net, ending Arrows’ drought of away wins.
The victory took them two notches above Gokulam to be placed at seventh with 10 points from the same number of matches, while the southern outfits remained ninth with just four points, well adrift of winning the league.