MAPUSA: Santa Cruz Club of Cavelossim worked hard to clinch a point in a 1-1 draw with Salgaocar Football Club, in GFA’s Goa Professional League, round eight football match, at Duler stadium, here, Friday. The goals were scored in the first session of the match.
Three minutes into the start and Salgaocar surged ahead through to delightful strike by Clifton Dias but ten minutes later, Estevan Mendes equalized for Cavelossim. The Green Brigade had the edge over their rivals but failed to get past Cavelossim custodian Ram Sroop again.
Salgaocar continued their unbeaten run and are firmly in the top of the standings with 17 points and a game in hand.
Cavelossim have 14 points and are in the third spot below Tuff Laxmi Prasad SC, who have 16 points.
Clifton provided a piece of brilliance in the very third minute as his scorching long ranger found the top left corner of the Cavelossim goal which gave no chance to keeper Ram.
However, it took the young Cavelossim lads just 10 minutes to level terms. Salgaocar keeper Abhijit Das came out of his position but could not clear the ball effectively from onrushing rival striker James Fernandes in a one-to-one situation. The ball rebounded to Estevan and the striker kept his composure to slot the ball in the empty goal from out of the box, 1-1.
As the match progressed, The Green Brigade enjoyed the lion’s share of ball possession but couldn’t score.
Changing over, the match settled into a familiar pattern as Salgaocar attacked and Cavelossim defended bravely.
The match came to life only in the 70th minute, when Cavelossim keeper Marcus Mascarenhas beautifully set James through. The under-20 muscled past defender Augustin Fernandes but couldn’t slot past keeper Abhijit, who collected the ball safely.
