Team Herald
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MAPUSA: Calangute Association registered a hard-fought 1-0 win over Churchill Brothers Sports Club in the Goa Professional League match, organised by Goa Football Association, played at Duler Stadium here on Wednesday.
Churchill coach Alfred Fernandes made one change to his side which had won 10-0 over FC Bardez in the last round match as Rohan Adnaik made it to the cut for the Red Machines, whereas, Calangute coach Alex Alvares brought in Josley Dias to replace Nigerian Kouame Joseph, while Newton Azavedo made way for Runal Shirokar in the Beachside’s line-up.
After drub football in the first 35 minutes, it was Churchill who came close to scoring in the 37th minute when Nicholas Fernandes made a darting run on the wing and found Trinidadian Willis Plaza with a low cross who beat the onrushing Calangute keeper Jason D’Mello with his first touch but defender Amar Halankar cleared it off the goal line.
Calangute also had a chance to take the lead with just three minutes to half-time when Josley nicely curled the ball in the box from the corner but substitute Ashok Megheri shot wide from close.
After failing to break the deadlock in the first session, Churchill coach Alfred brought in Pankaj Sona and Valerio Rodrigues to sharpen their attack at half-time, Banpynkhrawnam N. replaced injured Kyrgyzstani midfielder Bektur Uulu at the start of the second session.
However, it was the Beach side who took the lead in the 56th minute when Domnic Fernandes’ curling free-kick from the right flank was nicely headed in the net by Josley to put Calangute ahead.
The rest of the match witnessed continous attacks from the Red Machines but the Calangute defenders led by Amar along with Mayur Shelar, Bersal Viegas and Bonny Niasso made brilliant clearances till the full-time whistle to end their season with a win.
In the 2nd match played under floodlights at the same venue, Dempo Sports Club eased past Corps of Signals by a 3-1 margin to keep their hopes alive in the title race.
Beevan D’Mello gave the lead for the Golden Eagles in the 15th minutes from the spot after Corps defender Chand Singh brought down Kapil Hoble in the box to give away the penalty.
They doubled their lead in the 51st minutes when Beevan lay off the ball to Velto Cruz whose powerful strike from the top of the box hit the side post before making way into the goal to make it 2-0 for Dempo.
They had golden chance to score the third goal in the 86th minutes when referee Sainath Haldankar awarded the penalty to Dempo after Signals defender Kuldeep Kumar brought down substitute Jaison Vaz but Dempo skipper Nickson Castanha shot wide from the spot.
However, in the added time, Dempo managed to score the third goal of the match when Latesh Mandrekar’s powerful volley gave no chance to Signals keeper Binu Purushothama from close.
Signals reduced their margin in the very next minute through substitute Ankan Dawn who made an easy tap to Harshad Thube’s cut-back cross.
