A slip from them on Saturday could end all hopes of a top four Indian Super League finish and an AFC playoff spot. But Punjab FC managed to break the staunch Odisha FC resistance to finish with a 3-2 victory at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa and a climb to the fourth position.Substitute Manglenthang Kipgen proved to be impact player as he broke the hosts’ defence in the 69th minute before the Juggernauts equalised through VP Suhair two minutes later.Bede Osuji, who had the most chances of scoring for the visitors but in vain so far, got Punjab back in the lead in the 89th minute with an assist from Effiong Nsungusi as midfielder Dani Ramirez finally converted an Osuji back pass in the box to take their tally to 3-1.Odisha did manage a second goal from the feet of Kartik Handal in the sixth minutes of added time but could not stop the visitors from coming out winners in their must-win game.With just a game left in the season for Punjab, they were on fourth spot with 22 points from 12 matches as Odisha stayed on the 12th spot with just 10 points.Odisha looked more promising in the beginning, with their midfield led by Isak Vanlalruatfela frustrating the Punjab attackers as did their defence marshalled by Carlos Delgado, Thoiba Singh and Shubham Bhattacharya.However, Punjab gradually began growing into the game as Ricky Shabong and Samir Zeljković combined to support their Nigerian teammate Osuji upfront as Odisha custodian Anuj Kumar was brought into action several times and, each time, he did well to prevent an opposition opener.They were close to going into the break with a breakthrough when Ramirez saw his free kick from the edge of the box miss the Odisha goal by a whisker in the second minute of injury time.There was change in players in the middle and not much in action after the change of ends as Punjab kept pushing for a breakthrough that did not materialise till Meghalaya youngster Shabong broke through the Odisha defence in the 69th minute.In the other match of the day, Bengaluru FC signed off their ISL 2025-26 campaign with a 2-1 victory over Chennaiyin FC.
