TEAM HERALD

sports@herald-goa.com

MARGAO: Pailan Arrows pulled off a shocking victory over Sporting Club de Goa beating them 1-0 in a sixth round encounter of I-League football at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, Friday. There was no score at half time.

ON TARGET: A Sporting Clube de Goa player shoots  goalwards as the Pailan players look on at Nehru  Stadium, Fatorda, Friday.

Pailan made it clear right from the outset that they were not going to let the Flaming Oranje dictate terms, holding their own in the midfield while remaining solid at the back.

Sporting could have taken the lead in the very third minute when Pailan Arrows goalkeeper Soram Poirei Angamba and defender Shouvik Ghosh got involved in mix up and the ball went to rival Japanese striker Seiya Sugishita but his snap shot was blocked by Soram. Striker Dawson Fernandes tried to score off the rebound but Soram came to his side’s rescue and pulled off a spectacular save. In the ninth minute Pailan Arrows suffered a blow when their regular goalkeeper Soram got injured and was replaced by Ravi Kumar.

Sporting Club enjoyed better ball possession but their forwards failed to convert their superiority into goals.

Pailan Arrow’s promising striker Allwyn George alongwith Holicharan Nazary attacked the rival citadel with raids. Sporting Club almost took the lead in the 29^th minute when rival defender Prabir Das committed a foul on rival striker Dawson Fernandes and the referee awarded a free kick. Keita Boubacar stepped up and floated the ball inside the rival penalty area but defender Samanada Singh failed to head the ball into the net.

Later, Sporting Clube had a couple of excellent chances to surge ahead. First in the 38^th minute, Nigerian midfielder Ogba Kalu unleashed a rasping right-footer which missed the mark narrowly off a Dawson Fernandes through pass. Later, Dawson breached the rival defence but delayed in making an attempt at the rival goal and was thwarted by the rival defender for an abortive flag kick.

In the second half, the hosts were a subdued lot as they tried to check their offensive play in an attempt to protect their citadel. Their opponents took advantage of the situation and made a couple of forays into the rival territory and nearly found the mark when Milan Singh essayed a fine through pass to Allwyn. Sporting goalkeeper Gerard D’Mello came out his area, charged and collided with Allwyn. Gerard returned to his position after medical aid.

The match-winner for Pailan Arrows came in the 54^th minute  when dangerman Allwyn George found Tirthankar Sarkar free on the right flank and the latter’s shot was fisted away by rival goalkeeper Gerard D’Mello and the lurking Naryan Das took advantage of the situation and netted to put his team in front. He was later declared man-of-the match.

Sporting Clube suffered another jolt when injured Gerard was replaced by Ashok Singh.

Sporting brought in fresh legs but that did not change things much. Sporting kept on attacking but both Dawson and Kalu Ogab squandered chances.

In the dying minutes, Keita free kick was blocked by the rival goalkeeper. Sporting suffered a major jolt when substitute striker Vitorino Fernandes was awarded the red card by referee Pranjal Banerjee for a foul on Milan Singh.

Meanwhile the AIFF Anti-Doping Team conducted random tests on two players each from both teams.

Sporting’s coach Ekendra accused the referee for biased decisions and blamed poor refereeing for his team’s defeat.

Palian Arrows’ coach Arthur Papas termed today’s victory as an incredible achievement as it was their first victory over a Goan club since the inspection of the Development Team. “It was an incredible victory. Obviously we had strengthened a few areas to be able to take on our opposition. Today’s win is dedicated to Shilton D’Silva who is a member of the squad and had to operated at Kolkata. It was an incredible performance by the boys,” said an ecstatic Papas. However he was upset with the report carried by some section of media about the disciplined or lack of it within their ranks. “I told my players before the match that they should win today to prove the critics wrong and my boys responded well,” he concluded.