PANJIM: AIFF Academy edged past Sporting Clube de Goa 3–2 in the U-18 I-League match, at Don Bosco ground, here, on Thursday.
The match saw a series of ups and downs which finally ended with the away team breaking the dead lock with an injury time goal.
The match started off with an evenly balanced game play in which both sides displayed attacking football. The first goal came in the 26th minute when Sporting Clube were awarded a free-kick just outside the 16-yard box and Moises D’sa converted with a powerful low shot.
Post resumption, The Flaming Oranje were able to find their second goal through Akeraj Martins in the 51st minute when the striker calmly dribbled past the rival defenders to place the ball high into the right corner of the goal.
However, AIFF Academy came back strongly and started pushing hard. They pulled a goal back in the 60th minute through Jerry Lalrinzuala who was lurking inside the 16-yard box to convert a free-kick.
Second half substitute Nijwm Muchahary converted a smartly taken corner-kick with a powerful header to beat Sherwin and make it all square for AIFF.
At the end of 90 minutes the score board was all square and the additional time of four minutes were shown which saw one opportunity go wasted at each end of the pitch. However the final goal came in much after the added time. Once again it turned out to be the evening of super subs for AIFF when Rahul Yadav converted the last opportunity of the match to break The Flaming Oranje hearts.
