MAPUSA: Guardian Angel Sports Club held Dempo Sports Club to a goalless draw in the Goa Professional League match, organised by Goa Football Association, played at Duler Stadium, here on Saturday.
Dempo dropped two important points as they have now 38 points from 17 matches, while Angels concluded their season with 34 points from 22 matches.
Dempo gaffer Samir Naik chose to go with the winning formula which earned him all three points in thelast match against Corps of Signals, whereas, Angels coach Riston Rodrigues made four changes in the starting XI bringing in Raunak Gajendra, Mizio Peixoto, Nicholas Rodrigues and Perryson Rebello following a defeat against Panjim Footballers in the previous outing.
Dempo almost opened their account in the 10th minute when Nickson Castanha found Yogesh Kadam with a curling cross from the right flank but the winger saw his header from close rebound off the crossbar with every opponent beaten.
Dempo were the dominant side in the next 20 minutes with better ball possession and attacking index, however, they could not capitalise on their chances as Yogesh Kadam, Nestor Dias and Kapil Hoble failed to keep their shots on target.
Like in the first session, Dempo had an early chance in the second half when Yogesh curled the ball in the goalmouth but Beeven D’Mello fumbled with the ball.
Angels took 66 minutes in the match to create their first potent chance as Ghanaian Abel Hammond set up Perryson with a perfect cross from the left but the speedy midfielder failed to control his shot from close as the ball went wide for a goal-kick.
Another chance went in vain for Angels in the 69th minute when Abel once again curled the ball to Perryson who cut back it to substitute Yakubu Mohammed but the Nigerian striker’s shot missed the target by few inches.
In the closing stage of the match, Angel’s keeper Ram came with a great save when he brilliantly blocked Olan Chandran’s powerful strike from close to rescue his side, while a rebound of the same was shot out by Nestor Dias from 6-yards.
In the added time, Angels wasted two more chances as first, Perryson’s curling shot from inside the box rebounded off the horizontal bar, while in the last minute, Yakubu saw his powerful strike from outside the box went just over the crossbar.
Sporting Clube de Goa edged past Vasco Sports Club by a solitary goal in the second match of the day played under the floodlights at the same venue.
Vasco were the first to come close to scoring in the early minutes of the match when skipper Micky Fernandes after collecting a pass from Schubert Pereira tried his luck from inside the box but his powerful strike missed the target narrowly.
Vasco winger Anil Goancar wasted another chance in the 35th minutes when he was nicely fed by Franky Oliveiro with a superb through pass but the latter’s shot went wide from inside the box.
In the added time, Vasco custodian Suresh Lamani came up with a diving effort to deny Cajetan Fernandes’ goal-bound free-kick from the distance as both the team entered the dressing room goalless at the half-time.
In the early second session, Cajetan’s another goal-bound free-kick was nicely fisted over the crossbar by Vasco custodian Suresh.
Vasco also came close to scoring in the 61st minute when Schubert easily dribbled past two defenders and went for the glory from inside the box but his shot missed the target by a whisker. Sporting Nigerian striker Abiola Afuwape missed the sitter in the 64th minute when he headed out free header off Marcus Mascarenhas’ fine cross in the box.
Vasco were lucky not to concede in the 68th minute when Sporting skipper Victorino Fernandes made a superb run from the halfway line but his shot hit the upright from close keeping it clean for Vasco.
However, in the 72nd minute, Sporting were successful to break the deadlock when Marcus made a clinical finish to Peter Carvalho’s brilliant through pass from the outside the box to put rescue important three points from the match.
