Team Herald
BENAULIM: Bardez Veterans rallied splendidly to oust Ponda Veterans 6-4 via the tie-breaker to enter the semi-finals of the 17th VM Salgaocar Memorial Veterans soccer tournament played at St John the Baptist ground, Benaulim, on Saturday.
Ponda made a dream start and surged ahead in the second minute when striker Benedito Fernandes swept home a Pratap Sawant cross past the bewildered Jude Fernandes in the Bardez goal.
It was a reality check for the star studded Bardez outfit to come out from the slumber and dominate the proceeding thereafter with Alexander Fernandes and Bruno Coutinho.
Bardez despite having more ball possession had to wait till the 47th minute when Bruno Coutinho picked out Augustinho Rodrigues on the edge of the box and the former Salgaocar striker turned past Ponda Central defender Nelson Landez before he shot past the rival goalkeeper John Fernandes.
The goal spurred on the Bardez outfit and 4 minutes later substitute Domnick Dsouza took control of Lino Pereira’s cross inside the box and found the net with a low drive to give Bardez the lead.
With the match entering the dying minutes Ponda Veterans equalised through medio Uday Naik as he unleashed a powerful drive from top of the box to take the match into the tie-breaker in which Bardez Veterans were successful through Narendra Gad, Lino Pereira, Lawrence Quadros and Bruno Coutinho while Govind Balekar and Uday Naik netted for Ponda Veterans.
Earlier the chief guest Inacio Noronha was introduced to the teams by Francisco Monteiro.
