In a keenly fought encounter it was Milagres SC who had the first crack at the rival goal in the opening minutes of the match when Edwin Viegas fired in a curling strike which was neatly pushed away by Candolim keeper Xavier Estrocio.
At the other end, Sigmund Silveira failed to beat the Milagres SC custodian from handshaking distance.
Crossing over, Candolim SC’s Lestor Martins dangerously moved into the Milagres SC danger zone only to shoot into the waiting hands of the keeper.
Milagres SC custodian Manuel Viegas effected a brilliant save in the 50th minute of play to deny Stanley D’silva from putting Candolim SC into the lead.
Towards the fag end of the match, Candolim SC atlast managed to break the deadlock when Bapu Pednekar’s long range strike crashed into the Milagres SC nylons, 1-0.
Minutes before the final whistle, Nikhil Naik made the issue safe for Candolim SC, slotting home the ball from inside the 18-yard box, 2-0.
On Sunday, Saligao United huffed and puffed on their way to a 2-1 win over St Anthony’s SC, Marna in the inaugural match.
St Anthony’s SC led by a goal at halftime. Saligao United initiated several vicious moves in the first quarter of the match, where in the 12th minute Paulo Joao’s powerful header was pushed away by the diving St Anthony’s SC keeper Praveen Kalangutkar.
Six minutes later, Trevor Dias on getting hold of the ball charged into the St Anthony’s SC danger zone, however his strike was collected by keeper Praveen.
At the other end, St Anthony’s SC managed to take the lead when Aldrige Fernandes sent a pinpoint ball to Dalesh Pednekar, who made no mistake to fire the ball into the Saligao United goal, 1-0.
On resumption of play, Saligao United looked determined to wrap up the match in their favour and managed to do so, when in the 58th minute Earl Sequeira got hold of the ball from Trevor Dias, and after covering a few yards drilled in a low grounder into the far corner of the St Anthony’s SC nets, 1-1.
When it looked the ball was heading for a tiebreaker Trevor Dias came with the match winner for Saligao United, scoring from outside the danger zone, 2-1.
