Team Herald
MAPUSA: Calangute Association held Vasco Sports Club to an entertaining 1-1 draw in the Goa Professional League match, organized by Goa Football Association, played under floodlights at Duler Stadium here on Saturday.
Schubert Pereira scored for the Port Towners in the early minutes of the match, while Josley Dias cancelled it in the 23rd minutes for Calangute.
Calangute coach Alex Alvares made two changes to his side which earn all three points against Corps of Signals in the last match as newly signed striker Sanjay Vengurlekar and Rohan Pereira found place in the starting XI, whereas Vasco coach Eban Mesquita also made few changes to his side as Deryl Endro, Myran Pereira and Stephen Colaco made the first start for the Port Towners. Leny Fernandes was back in the playing XI for Vasco.
It was just four minutes on the match clock when Vasco stunned the home team with the first goal of the match when Clive Coelho sent a low cross to Schubert Pereira who blasted it from the top of the box, which hit the bottom left before entering the goal making it 1-0 for the Port Towners.
Calangute also had the chance to equalise in the 15th minutes when Joston Pereira tried his luck from the edge of the box with lofted shot but Vasco keeper Suresh Lamani came up with the excellent save to deny the midfielder from scoring.
However, the beachside found the equaliser in the 23rd minutes through Josley Dias when he smartly headed in between Vasco keeper and defenders off Joston’s header pass from inside the box making it 1-1 for Calangute.
Energised by the leveller, Calangute came up with series of attacks against the opponents but Vasco keeper’s fantastic guarding and excellent defending from Vasco defenders restricted the score to 1-1 till half-time.
First, Vasco custodian stretched to his limit to push Joston’s long-distance free-kick. Next, he once again dived to his left to deny Domnic Fernandes powerful free-kick from 30-yards, while in the 44th minute, Sanjay was brilliantly set up in the box by Omakar More with a through pass but Vasco defender cleared the danger with a clean sliding tackle to keep his side safe from any further damage.
The second session witnessed some power-packed action from both the ends where Calangute came close to scoring in the 56th minute when Bersal Viegas’ header almost entered the goal from handshaking distance but Godfray cleared it off from the goal line.
At the other end, Vasco’s goal scorer Schubert tried his luck from distance with curling shot only to see Calangute keeper Jason D’Mello fisted it over the crossbar.
While Calangute were once again unlucky in the dying minutes of the match as Josley’s sparkling shot beat every opponent but was denied by the woodwork.
Vasco also marched many times on the opponents but Calangute defenders stood tall to clear every danger to keep their side safe.
With either of the teams failing to break the deadlock in the second session, the match ended in the 1-1 draw, giving the first point for the Port Towners in the league.
