Javi Hernandez and Jonathas de Jesus combined to deadly effect for Odisha FC during their Monday night Indian Super League game against a struggling East Bengal. The Odisha pair assisted each other’s goals, taking the Juggernauts to within a point of the top four.
The Red and Gold Brigade suffered their eighth defeat of the 2021/22 Indian Super League season at the Tilak Maidan, beaten, on this occasion, by the brilliance of Odisha FC’s forward pair, Hernandez and Jonathas. The two combined to deadly effect, assisting each other’s goal, as the Juggernauts won 2-1 and went within a point of fourth-placed Jamshedpur.
Odisha nearly had the perfect start to the game when, just seconds after kick-off, Aridai Cabrera’s cross-cum-shot from the left side of the box grazed the top of the crossbar. East Bengal survived the early scare but failed to heed the warning signs – the next time Odisha attacked, they scored. The opening goal of the game arrived in the 23rd minute, thanks, in large part, to Javi’s drive.
The OFC forward drove to the byline before squaring the ball to Jonathas in space inside the box, and the forward could not miss. It was his sixth goal of the season, bringing him up to fourth in the scoring charts. Javi, meanwhile, climbed to fifth in the assists leaderboard with his fifth of the season.
East Bengal’s clearest inroad into the game was through combinations between Antonio Perosevic and Hira Mondal on the right. The pair tested their luck from distance a few times in the first half but didn’t trouble the goalkeeper. However, the Red and Gold Brigade did grow into the game after the interval.
Darren Sidoel thumped his free-kick just over the bar while Perosevic sent his volley over, too, from inside the box. The attacker did, finally, squeeze one past Arshdeep Singh in the Odisha goal in the 64th minute after latching on to a long pass from Franjo Prce.
The parity lasted nine minutes. Jonathas, surrounded by four East Bengal bodies, shielded the ball and squared it to Javi on the edge of the box. The attacker, forced on his weaker right foot, managed to get a shot away that deflected off of Prce – and beat Sankar Roy in goal.
Minutes later, Javi worked the ball through the East Bengal back-line and poked it past the goalkeeper but was denied his second of the night by a determined Mondal, who got back in time to clear it off the line. Nonetheless, another goal would not be needed, as Odisha held on to their narrow lead until the end.
