Salgaocar..1 Chirag…2
MARGAO, MARCH 21
Salgaocar Sports Club suffered their first defeat under coach Karim Bencherifa as they went down to Chirag United 1-2 in a 17th round match of ONGC I-league at Nehru stadium, on Sunday. Chirag led 2-0 at the breather.
It was a slow start to the 17th round clash between the two sides as neither of them looked to make any attacking forays into the opposition’s half.
For the Kolkata outfit, man-of-the match and captain Denson Devadas, Gouranga Biswas, Lalkamal Bhowmick and Gouranga Dutta worked effectively in the midfield to feed both strikers – Brazilian import Josimar Da Silva Martins and Ashim Biswas, who kept the rival defence on the run.
Salgaocar were a pale shadow of themselves as they were unable to strike rhythm.
Chirag’s efforts were finally rewarded in the 14th minute through a spot kick. Chirag’s striker Josimar was tripped by Salgaocar defender Milagres Gonsalves inside the box off a pass from Denson Devadas. Referee Santosh Kumar of Kerala pointed to the dreaded spot. Josimar who took spot kick fired past the goalkeeper.
After taking the lead, the visitors held midfield supremacy for a major part of the opening session as the host team did not show much cohesion and managed very few forays into the rival territory.
Salgaocar nearly found the equalizer midway but Nigerian striker Ekene Ikenwa’s feeble header went out without troubling Chirag custodian Sandip Nandi. A couple of minutes later, Salgaocar nearly found the equalizer in the 41st minute but Chirag’s goalkeeper rose to the occasion and collected the shot from Francis Fernandes.
Chirag doubled the lead in the 44th minute through Ashim Biswas off a splitting pass from Josimar.
After the change of ends, Salgaocar regrouped and were rewarded in the 58th minute through substitute Bevan D’Mello following a flag kick taken by captain Rocus Lamare from the left, which beat the rival defence. Bevan leapt high and nodded in much to the cheers of the Salgaocar supporters.
Obviously, there was a change for the better in Salgaocar’s play after Karim’s pep talk during the interval. Salgaocar looked a completely different outfit from the one which played in the first half as there was a new spirit about them. Each time they went forward it looked like they could create something.
Stung by the reducer, Chirag upped the tempo and went all out for more goals but Ashim Biswas and Gouranga Dutta were the culprits as they wasted sitters. Gouranga bungled twice in a one-to-one situation. Salgaocar, tried their best to force their way back into the game, but all their efforts seemed futile.
Our Sports Reporter adds from Panjim: Blame it on the weather if play did not rise to the expectations of the Sunday crowd. It was humid and this factor alone must have been responsible for the players not giving their best. The Kuwait team even felt so when they played Churchill last Tuesday.
The Nehru Stadium floodlights are dead for pretty long, long time now and all efforts to get them on, either through renovation or getting new structures seem to have been a go bye, by the SAG.
Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, GFA president, Urban Development Minister Joaquim Alemao and PWD Minister, Churchill Alemao all have been promising that the work on floodlights will be taken up soon, but how soon is soon is what the fans have been wondering. Often, this is how politicians come up with quick answers, thinking that people’s memory is very short.
Consequently, one cannot blame those who allege that money factor plays an important factor, given that corruption is talked about loudly.
The match ended with a couple of bottles being hurled onto the pitch by a few from the crowd perhaps disappointed with the result. In Kolkata, they are now used to hurling stones.
