MAPUSA: Dempo Sports Club registered an easy 2-0 win over Guardian Angel Sports Club in the Goa Professional League match, organised by Goa Football Association, played at Duler Stadium, on Friday.
There were two changes made to the Dempo side which defeated Calangute Association in the previous match as Jaison Vaz and Gaurish Naik replaced suspended Beevan D’Mello and Velito Cruz in Samir Naik’s starting XI. He also added defender Naveen Mendes replacing Mario Mascarenhas. Whereas Angels who drew with Sporting Clube de Goa in their previous outing had only one change as coach Riston Rodrigues brought in Clifton Dias replacing Rayman Fernandes in the line-up.
The match was restricted to midfield play in the first 15 minutes as both teams tried to keep the ball which ended up with a potent move from Dempo as Yogesh Kadam made a dangerous run and drilled in a sparkling strike from the distance but his shot missed the target by few inches.
Energized by the attack, Dempo continued with their attacking flair on the rivals and finally succeeded to break Angels defence in the 22nd minute as Gaurish sent a long ball to Kapil where Angel keeper Ram Sroop came off the line to clear the same but his clearance hit the Dempo winger before finishing in the back of the nylons to give the Golden Eagles the lead.
A few minutes later, Kapil had another chance when he made a swift run after getting hold of the loose ball at the halfway line but saw his powerful strike get blocked by the keeper for a corner.
Angels had the best chance to equalise in the 42nd minute when Dempo centre-back Mathew Gonsalves’ error to clear the ball saw Angels U-20 striker Joval Fernandes taking advantage but failed to beat the Dempo keeper as his shot was pushed away for a corner by Agnelo Gomes.
From the resultant corner, Sanwil D’Costa’s header missed the target by few inches.
On crossing over, Dempo started well and doubled their lead in the 57th minute when Angels defender Alson Fernandes’ interception to substitute Suraj Hadkonkar’s cross finished in his own goal making it 2-0 for the Golden Eagles.
A few minutes later, both the side wasted a chance each as first Angels Clifton failed to convert Nicholas Rodrigues’ perfect corner, while Dempo’s Kapil headed off target to Yogesh Kadam’s inch-perfect cross from the left flank.
The last few minutes witnessed Angels trying hard to get back into the match but Dempo’s last line stood strong to clear every attempt as the match finished in Dempo’s way.
With this win, Dempo once again regain their top spot with 18 points from eight matches, while Angels have 11 points from the same number of outings.
