DULER: Sao Minugel de Taleigao put up a stiff challenge to hold Vasco Sports Club to a 2-2 draw in the GFA’s U-20 Taca Goa Cup, at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, on Thursday.
At halftime Vasco were leading by a 1-0 margin.
In the early minutes of play Taleigao received a major jolt when they were reduced to ten men. Vasco’s Kingslee Fernandes on getting hold of the ball moved his way past the Taleigao defenders as well as the keeper, only to be unceremoniously brought down by defender Sahil Kuncolkar on the edge of the 18-yard box.
However to the frustration of the Taleigao camp, referee Yuvraj Tari flashed a red card to their keeper Yaghikesh Shirodkar instead of defender Sahil.
After a long altercation between the Taleigao’s officials, referee, lines-men and the fourth match official, the referee corrected the error committed and gave marching orders to Sahil Kunkolkar and brought the Taleigao keeper back into action and awarded Vasco a direct free kick.
Biswajeet Rajput who stepped forward to take the kick, beautifully curled the ball to the far end of the Taleigao goal to make it 1-0.
Thereon, Vasco came close to netting in two more goals in the 20th and 35th minute however Yaghikesh did a remarkable job under the horizontal bar to deny Leny Fernandes and Rajan Yadav from scoring.
In the 40th minute of play Klusne Pereira saw his powerful strike bang the Taleigao upright and bounce back into play.
On resumption of play, Vasco were also reduced to ten men when their goal scorer Biswajeet Rajput was found guilty by the referee for bringing on a harsh tackle on Prajot Mondol.
In the 66th minute of play Taleigao found the precious equaliser when Salu Santos sent his freekick towards Prajot Mondal who coolly slotted the ball home.
However within two minutes Taleigao once again found themselves trailing by a goal when Kingslee Fernandes acrobatically fired home Vijay Rathore’s corner kick.
After much probing, Taleigao managed to level terms in the add on time when keeper Darshan Ambore sent a long ball towards Ronaldo Dias who drilled it in to the far corner of the goal to make it 2-2.
The match which was played on equal footing was marred by some rather depressing chain of events during the closing stages.
With last few seconds left for the final whistle, Vasco’s goal scorer Kingslee Fernandes clashed with the Taleigao custodian and in the process fractured his leg.
