RAIA: Benaulim Veterans triumph over Orlim Veterans 3-2 in the Benaulim Constituency Veterans 8-a-side football tournament organised by United Sports Club of Seraulim at Seraulim panchayat ground, on Monday.
Benaulim Veterans appeared promising and dominated the first half with three successive goals. Their first goal came in the very first minute when Luis Fernandes after receiving a defence splitting pass from Nicholas placed the ball into the net leaving helpless goalkeeper to watch.
Their second goal came in the 4th minute when Dominic’s long range shot was misjudged by the keeper to enter the net. Benaulim Veterans scored the third goal through Nicholas Rodrigues, who dribbled past a couple of defenders to send the ball home, to give his team a 3-0 lead at half time.
It seemed like Benaulim Veterans would win by a big margin when they came back to field in the second half. Orlim Veterans, however, came with a game plan and regrouped themselves well and showed the
urgency to score.
They almost scored in the 26th minute when Alister Saldana’s power-packed shot kissed the crossbar. Alex Ambrose, however, found the net in the 30th minute through the pocket of space giving a ray of hope to their fans.
Nicholas continued the pressure on Orlim with his dominance with the ball. Alex, however, came to Orlim’s rescue when he scored the second goal for Orlim after dribbling past the defender.
They pressed hard for the equaliser. However, Benaulim stayed strong till the end and took the game away with a 3-2 lead and entered the semi-finals.
Earlier, Cavelossim Veterans entered the semi-finals pipping Colva Veterans 1-0.
Credit goes to the Colva keeper who brought in atleast four saves during the first hald. However, Colva Veterans were unfortunate to conceive a goal in the 33rd minute of the second half when he misjudged a cross from James Barretto, only to see the ball entering the net. Colva on the other hand missed couple of chances that came their way due to poor finishing.
