ISL 2021-22: Greg Stewart hattrick helps Jamshedpur beat Odisha

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:01 am

Greg Stewart celebrates after scoring for Jamshedpur vs Odisha.
Greg Stewart celebrates after scoring for Jamshedpur vs Odisha.
R. Parthibhan/Focus Sports/ ISL

Greg Stewart's stunning first-half hattrick saw Jamshedpur FC dismantle Odisha FC 4-0 as they climbed to second in the points table, at the Tilak Maidan Stadium on Tuesday.

Stewart scored three very different goals in the 4th, 21st and 35th minutes to add to Peter Hartley's early effort in the 3rd minute as the 'away' side made Odisha look ordinary despite this being the latter's best start to an ISL season.

The result means Jamshedpur leapfrog from fifth to second in the points table with 11 points from six games. Odisha are in fourth with nine points from five games.

Odisha were under the cosh right from the off. Peter Hartley got Jamshedpur going with the first goal, heading in a delightful Stewart corner into the right bottom corner, out muscling a haplessly outmatched Vinit Rai.

One minute later, Stewart made it 2-0 after seizing upon 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 smashed past Kamaljit Singh and into the top right corner.

A few moments later, the 31-year old Stewart, who won the Scottish Premiership with Rangers before his move to Jamshedpur, unleashed a stunning free-kick from 30 yards that curled in a left-footer from around the wall to bend in past a diving Kamaljit.

Stewart then eased to his hattrick in the 35th minute after he strode past a few defenders and fired past the keeper at the far post.

The only negative in a near 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 intense first period as Odisha players tried fight back. 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 Greg Stewart blitzkrieg.