MAPUSA: Dempo Sports Club became the first team to book their place in the semi-finals of the 1st AWES Cup, organised by Goa Football Association and Dempo Sports Club Juniors, as they beat ONGC Football Club 1-0 in their last Group A match played at Duler Stadium, here on Saturday.
It was a 1-1 draw when both the teams last met in the I-League 2012-13 Season at the same venue, but with nothing common remaining in both the teams including coaches since their last meet, Sameer Naik’s side proved to be good enough for the opponents.
Dempo had won their last match against Calangute Association 1-0 and a draw was enough for the Golden Eagles to make it through to the semifinals, while, ONGC were in a must win situation with at least a 3-0 margin as they had suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Calangute.
ONGC Coach Caetano Pinho chose to go with the same line-up from the last match, while, Dempo Coach Sameer Naik made two changes to his side as Agnelo Gomes replaced injured keeper Tyson Caido. Velito was the other change in the squad.
The visitors started the match on an attacking note as they took just two minutes to break Dempo’s defence line as after cutting past a defender in his run, Mukesh Minz tried to find Ranjit Oraw in the box with a cross from the left but Mathew cleared it on time.
At the other, Kapil Hoble sent a through ball to Latesh Mandrekar in the box but ONGC keeper Somya Das collected it before the striker could reach to it.
After a few end-to end counters, It was Dempo who surged ahead in the 18th minute through Beevan D’Mello. The striker rounded the keeper with a perfect chip shot at the far post after getting hold of a through pass from Latesh.
A minute later, Beevan had a chance to double their lead but the front man shot wide from inside the box after receiving a diagonal pass in the box from Yogesh Kadam.
The later part of the session was restricted to the midfield play, mostly dominated by the Golden Eagles with better ball possession and some swift attacks from both the wings but they could not manage to get anything fruitful from it, as they entered the dressing room with just a goal lead in their side.
ONGC Coach Pinho brought in last match goal-scorer Prathamesh Kasare replacing Ranjit at the half time.
On crossing over, Dempo made a quick attack on the opponents when Kapil made a darting run from his own half and released the ball to Latesh in the box, but ONGC defender Shanid Valan intercepted his move when the Dempo lad was trying to find Beevan with a short cross in the danger area.
The next 30 minutes belonged to ONGC as they came up with numerous attacks on the opponents but could not manage to break Dempo’s strong defence led by Mathew Gonsalves. In one of these, Kasare’s powerful shot from the top of the box was brilliantly blocked by Mathew.
A few minutes later, Kasare had another opportunity to level the terms but this time he misjudged his header from close off Dhiraj Meher long distance cross. The best chance for the visitors came in the 75th minute when skipper Nitesh Monde tried his luck from the distance but Dempo keeper Agnelo Gomes fisted it over the crossbar.
In the last quarter of the match, Dempo also had two golden opportunities to further increase their lead but first Beevan’s shot was brilliantly pushed for a corner by ONGC shot stopper, Das. While in the last move of the match, keeper Das once again showed his calibre when he made a diving effort to stop Yogesh Kadam’s shot from inside the box as the score remained 1-0 till the full-time whistle.
