Team Herald
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MAPUSA: Ten men Sporting Clube de Goa got the better of rivals Dempo Sports Club 2-0 in the GFA’s Goa Professional League encounter played at Duler Stadium, Mapusa on Sunday.
Sporting Clube de Goa now have 36 points from 17 matches while Dempo SC stay on 35 points from equal number.
The Flaming Oranje did not waste much time and shot into the lead in the 8th minute of play when Marcus Mascarenhas pounced on a defensive error by Dempo and blasted home the ball past the onrushing keeper Tyson Caiado, 1-0.
Boosted by the goal Sporting Clube de Goa were all over the Dempo colts, where in the 10th minute Cajetan Fernandes curled his free-kick towards Subhasish Bose whose firm header flew inches over the Dempo horizontal bar.
Marcus once again looked vicious infront of the Dempo goal when on getting hold of a loose ball he charged into the rival citadel only to be blocked by keeper Tyson in a one on one situation.
Two minutes later Francis Dadzie initiated a fine move when he sent the ball towards Marcus who further relayed it towards Daryl Costa, but the U-20’s blistering shot from the edge of the box missed the target by a whisker.
Sporting Clube de Goa almost pumped in their second goal of the evening couple of minutes later when Dadzie’s pass found Mauvin Borges who fired home the ball through a powerful volley, only to be pulled offside by the referee Prasad Surlekar, overruling the decision of the linesman Sunil Nanodkar.
Dempo SC came with a well combined move in the 23rd minute of play when Mohammad Ali ran up the right flank and played a nice one two with Germanpreet Singh who in turn set up Felix Odili Chidi who back heeled the ball towards unmarked Adil Khan right inside the Sporting Clube goal area but the midfielder failed to give finishing touches to the move.
Sporting managed to double their lead in the 37th minute of play when Marcus set up Avrhisto Fernandes whose long floater dipped into the Dempo goal giving no chance to keeper Tyson, 2-0.
On resumption of play Dempo coach Mauricio Afonso brought in Joaquim Abranches, Milagres Gonsalves and Aniston Fernandes to further bolster up the attack, however the much needed goal eluded them till the very end.
Sporting Clube came close to increasing the margin in the 48th minute of play when Francis Dazie got hold of Cajetan’s corner kick, however his strike from close range sailed just past the Dempo goal.
After some midfield play Adil Khan found a loose ball and unleashed a rasping 30-yard right footer which brushed the gloves of the keeper and rolled out of play.
In the 84th minute Sporting were reduced by a man after Subhasish Bose received a double booking by referee Prasad Surlekar for abusive language.
In the injury moments of the match Francis Dadzie almost took Sporting up by three goals, however Dempo keeper came with a diving save to push away his hot blooded shot from outside the 18-yard box.
