FC Goa were five minutes away from taking a big leap towards the quarterfinals of the AFC Challenge League but eventually ended with nothing at the Mohammed Al-Hamad Stadium in Kuwait on Saturday.




Goa couldn’t have asked for a better start in group C as they surged ahead after seven minutes when Chiki received the ball in the middle of the box and fired past the goalkeeper. It was a dream start to their campaign in the third tier of Asian football, but Faridun Davlatov struck twice in the last five minutes to hand Gouramangi Singh ’s side a 2-1 defeat and a tough lesson.




“It's difficult to accept that we were leading the game till the end and lost,” said Gouramangi. “This is football, things change very fast. We lost concentration in the last few minutes. It’s a very hard lesson to learn, but I hope we take the hard lesson from here and don't repeat (the mistakes). We have to remain alert throughout the 90 minutes because things can change very fast, in a minute.”




For Goa, things changed in the last five minutes.




For 85 minutes, Goa appeared to have done enough to start on a winning note, a result that would have done their chances a world of good. There were other chances too to inflate the lead: the hardworking Jorge Ortiz was thwarted inside the box by Cameroonian defender Ndongo Foe, who was later lucky to escape being sent off for a lunging challenge on Ortiz. The foul was only deemed worthy of a yellow card by the referee.




Chiki, Goa’s Spanish striker, too came close when he chested the ball to beat his marker but could not finish. Muhammed Nemil’s effort from a quick counterattack was weak.




In the second half, goalkeeper Bob Raj had to be replaced after he made a save and hit his head against the post. According to team sources, he was heavily concussed and had to be taken to the hospital.




Lara Sharma took his place and was called into action in the 56th minute when he dived low to parry away Khaitov Azizbek’s low curler from just outside the box.




Regar-TadAZ didn’t give up. They kept pushing and were rewarded with the equaliser when Abdurakhmon Nozimov released Davlatov into space to unleash an unstoppable shot into the top corner.




In the final minute of regulation time, Davlatov struck again, this time from a corner kick as he headed home the winner for Regar-TadAZ.