Chirag salvage draw against Dempo SC

MARGAO, DEC 30
Dempo Sports Club’s chief coach Armando Colaco may believe that every day is a new day, but there is nothing new in his team’s performance as Chirag United benefited out of rival’s floppy error at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda after a 1-1 draw left Dempo still searching for their third win in the round six I-League match on Thursday.
Promising striker Cliffton Gonsalves raised hopes with a strike in injury time of the opening session. Dempo however lacked the conviction to break their unimpressive display and Chirag were back on even terms through Brazilian Josimar da Silva Martins late in the second half.
It was the same old story of missed chances to haunt the home team, allowing Chirag to snatch a point.
Dempo made their intentions clear as they instantly went on the offensive and struck the rhythm early and kept the momentum. Their shirt passing and distribution was impressive but they were let down with poor finishing by captain Ranty Martins as he had Chirag custodian Abhijit Mondal at his mercy but ineptness by the Nigerian striker in the 18-yard box proved to be their downfall.
Dempo spurned a good chance in the 12th minute when Roberto Mendes da Silva found Nicolau Borges free on the left and the last named sent a through pass for Cliffton Gonsalves, outwitted a rival defender. However, Chirag keeper Abhijit Mondal brought down Cliffton inside the penalty box and referee A Rowan from SSCB without any hesitation pointed to the dreaded spot. The resultant spot kick taken by striker Ranty Martins hit the right post, much to the dismay of the Dempo supporters.
A couple of minutes later, Ranty blew away the easiest chance, shooting over from five yards after Ogba Kalu assisted. Thereafter, Roberto floated the ball inside the rival territory but man-of-the-match Peter Carvalho’s unimpressive header went straight into the rival keeper’s hands.
Chirag who were struggling throughout the opening session, had a first look at the rival goal in the 30th minute when midfielder Lalkamal Bhowmick outpaced Domnic Noronha and found striker Junior Elijaih at the top of the box, who unleashed a snap shot which deflected from John Dias’ leg and went out for an abortive flag kick.
Dempo shot into the lead in injury time when Roberto Mendes da Silva sent a defence splitting pass from the left via Nicolau Borges inside the rival penalty box, but the ball eluded striker Ranty Martins and Chirag keeper Abhijit Mondal, and striker Cliffton Gonsalves, made no mistake in punting the ball in.
The second half saw Dempo dish out some ragged football combined with bouts of free flowing short passes and Ranty wasted a gilt edged scoring opportunity off Ogba Kalu’s pass.
Dempo coach Armando Colaco’s move pulling out striker Cliffton Gonsalves and shifting Roberto Mendes upfront backfired as the waist line comprising Nigerian Ogba Kalu and Nicolau Borges were woeful out of touch and both were responsible for erratic miss-passes. Peter Carvalho nearly doubled the lead but his header off Roberto Mendes da Silva’s free kick sailed over the crossbar.
Just when everything seemed in tune with Dempo still celebrating, there came the shocker in the 89th minute, when left wingback Marcus Peixoto lost the ball near his own half allowing midfielder Lalkamal Bhowick to head a perfect ball for striker Josimar da Silva Martins to beat Dempo keeper Laxmikant Kattimani with a snap shot to the right of the keeper.
With this draw, Dempo collected nine points from six matches while Chirag United have nine points from the same encounter.
The match saw heated arguments soon after half time between Dempo Brazilian’s midfielder Roberto Mendes da Silva and Nigerian Ogba Kalu, but captain Ranty Martins cooled tempers with his intervention.