Team Herald
VASCO: Holy Cross Sports Club, Arambol scored a solitary goal victory to move into the semi-finals of the HQ-NRB 43rd Bandodkar Memorial football tournament defeating St Savio Sports Club, Calangute in the quarter-final played at MPT ground, Baina-Vasco, on Monday.
The scores were tied 0-0 at lemon break with Holy Cross SC boys failing to capitalise on their dominant ball possession.
In the very 2nd minute, Holy Cross player dribbled the ball into the danger area but he shot straight into the hands of St Savio SC goalkeeper Selwyn D’Souza.
Hari Parab of Holy Cross SC took a free kick in the 11th minute which led to a scramble in the box that led to Dietmar Fernandes getting a yellow card for handling the ball.
Dietmar in the 22nd minute took a free kick that sailed above the goal post.
Holy Cross SC came close to scoring in the 24th minute when a corner kick taken by Hari Parab was pounced on by Jason Fernandes, which just missed the target.
St Savio SC in the 30th minute got their first real chance with a left footer shot taken by Colin Sieiro from outside the box, which sailed above the crossbar.
In the second half, St Savio SC began their proceeding on a promising note. In the 41st minute, a piercing run by Blake Haldankar of St Savio was intercepted by a timely tackle of Bruno Fernandes, who was the backbone of the Holy Cross Arambol defence.
In the 43rd minute, St Savio SC came close to scoring again with a free kick taken by Pedro Gonsalves from outside the box, which was denied by a brilliant save by Holy Cross SC goalkeeper Kevin D’Souza.
Holy Cross SC in the 58th minute managed to penetrate into the St Savio SC defence and a remarkable attempt by Hari Parab from a acute angle found the goalkeeper out of his line for a moment and but the keeper managed to move back in the nick of time to make the save.
After making several attempts, Holy Cross SC in the 59th minute managed to break the deadlock with a rasping left footer taken by Dietmar Fernandes that found the target into the top left corner of the net.
With the clock ticking, St Savio SC pushed forward in search of the elusive equaliser and maintained the pressure on the Holy Cross SC defence in the dying minutes of the match, but the latter’s team’s defence remained undeterred and saw them through to victory.
Man-of-the-Match was awarded to Pedro Gonsalves of St Savio Sports Club which was presented by the chief guest T.T Shreedharan, legal advisor, Baina Sports Club.
