Vasco, Dec 14: Greg Stewart produced a spectacular first-half hat-trick as Jamshedpur FC breezed past Odisha FC 4-0 to climb to the second place in the points table of the Indian Super League, here on Tuesday.
Stewart scored three very different yet stunning goals in the 4th, 21st and 35th minutes after Peter Hartley’s strike gave the lead in the third minute.
The result means Jamshedpur leapfrogged from fifth to second in the points table with 11 points from six games.
Odisha are in fourth position having nine points from five games.
Odisha were rocked inside the first four minutes.
Hartley turned in a delightful Stewart corner into the right bottom corner, out jumping Vinit Rai after winning the flag-kick himself.
One minute later, Stewart made it 2-0 pouncing on a mistake from the Odisha defence and outfoxing Paul Ramfangzuava to then shimmy his way past another defender and let loose a right-footed effort that cannoned past Kamaljit Singh and into the top right corner.
The 31-year old Stewart, who won the Scottish Premiership with Rangers before his move to Jamshedpur, unleashed a stunning left-footed curling free-kick from 30 yards which bend in past a diving goalkeeper Kamaljit.
Stewart was in the form of his life, netting his hat-trick in the 35th minute after he strode past a few defenders and fired past the keeper at the far post.
The only downside in a perfect half for Owen Coyle’s men was the injury to Alexandre Lima who beat a charging defender to shoot straight at the keeper but injured himself in the process.
The second half could not match up to the sizzling first period as Odisha players tried to create chances and open their goal account and narrow down the margin.
The Kiko Ramirez-coached side rang in the change bringing the likes of Nikhil Raj and Liridon Krasniqi to change their fortunes but in the end, it proved to be a horror night for them and one that found them wanting in defence and lack of ideas when struck by a Stewart blitzkrieg. (PTI)
