Five-star Rohan hands Goa a big win over Daman & Diu

MAPUSA: Host Goa hammered Daman and Diu 10-0 in the inaugural match of the Sub Junior National Football Championship (West Zone), organised by Goa Football Association and conducted by All India Football Federation, played at Duler Stadium, here on Sunday. 

Goa's Rohan Joseph Viegas stole the limelight by scoring five goals before being subbed off in the second half.

Goa scored in the 3rd minute through Rohan who guided Saideep Kishor's cross. 

Backed by a handful spectators, Goa doubled the lead through Ryan Dias. Joseph initiated the move before he played a well measured pass to Aditya, but the latter's effort was blocked by rival keeper Abhishek Singh however Goa's Ryan was fastest to pounce to double the lead.

Captain Joesph and Harsh Patre dictated terms in the midfield as they constantly sprayed passes to the strikers.  Rohan scored the team's third after another brilliant assist by Joseph. 

Just 24 minutes into the game, Goa scored the fourth as Ryan completed his brace. 

Rohan completed his hattrick at the half hour mark before he slotted home two more goals before the break to give Goa a 7-0 lead at the end of the first half.

Daman and Diu were totally overpowered in the first half. 

However, the visitors put up a strong challenge in the second half. Despite failing to break Goa's defence, Daman & Diu defended resolutely. Keeper Abhishek saved the further blushes for his team as he pulled off stunning saves to deny Ryan and Rohan on couple of instances.

Goa scored their eighth at the hour mark through Aditya who on receiving a pass from Saideep scored past the rival keeper.

Harsh scored the ninth before Aditya drilled the final nail into the coffin to complete the rout. 

Goa asst coach cum manager Sebastian Noronha seemed pretty satisfied with the results and said that his team will try to perform better in the next game.

"Though we were overshadowed with controversies we made sure that they didn't affect us and gave our level best. The team selection was purely based on how the players performed at the selection trials," he said. 

"This is a huge victory, it is not easy to net 10 goals and my team has performed really well. We now have to focus on the next fixture against Maharashtra and we hope to win the next match," he added.

Goa will face Maharashtra on August 24.