Siverio brace snatches 2nd spot for JFC

Jamshedpur FC continued their blistering form at home as they leapfrogged FC Goa into second place, courtesy a dominating 3-1 win at JRD Tata Sports Complex on Sunday.
Khalid Jamil's men were at their attacking best as Javier Siverio hit a brace and Lazar Cirkovic scored a screamer in front of a festive Sunday crowd as they pushed Manolo Marquez's formerly second-placed side a rung down to third. Ayush Chhteri's goal also proved to be a consolation strike for the visitors.
Jamshedpur, meanwhile, with their 34 points from 18 games, now lie nine points behind leaders Mohun Bagan Super Giant and just a point ahead of their opponents on the day.
That Jamil's men have found a new vigour just as the season nears its business end was evident at the Furnace from the kickoff. They used their weapon of choice — long balls in the form of crosses and throw-ins — to great effect and bothered the Goa defence time and again.
The breakthrough came in the 34th minute as the hosts' master playmaker Javi Hernamdez controlled the ball near the box and sent a pass to defender Cirkovic, who had moved up to his left. The Serbian — at his best for most of the game — made the intuitive decision of going for the goal and sent a curling and dipping cross into the top right corner of the net, leaving the veteran Sandesh Jhingan and young custodian Hrithik Tiwari at a loss.
The Red Miners did not have to wait long to increase their lead as the pacey Sanam Singh sent a splendid cross from the left into the box but within the grasp of the goalkeeper. A stutter by Tiwari in grabbing onto it, however, found a poaching Siverio reach the loose ball in time to gently guide it into the net three minutes later.
The fighting Goa players, however, did not give up and keep trying for inroads past the Jamshedpur defence. And their persistence paid off in the first minute of injury time as they took advantage of a lapse in the Stepphen Eze-led defence's concentration to shoot the ball past a diving Albino Gomes at the Jamshedpur goal.
While Goa continued to keep more of the possession and stayed on their quest for an equaliser in the second half, it was Siverio's perfect header to a Boris Singh corner in the 68th minute that took the game and the second spot away from Manolo's side.