PANJIM: Sesa Football Academy won the hearts of the fans while 10-men Churchill Bros won the match 3-2 in GFA’s Goa Professional League, round eight match, at Duler stadium, Mapusa, Sunday.
The match officials were at the eye of the storm and were booed by spectators for the poor standard of refereeing.
Sesa should have in the least earned a point if not win the match.
Arjuna Awardee Brahmanand Shankwalkar and manager for the Sesa Football Academy expressed serious concern over the standard of refereeing and said that if the development of football in Goa is serious then the standard of refereeing is also important. “The standard of refereeing in Goa is killing football,” he said pointing out to today’s match.
Churchill Bros’ attack was steered by captain Odafa Okolie and Sunday Nwadialu who complimented each other in good football but marred their performance with dangerous play.
The Red Machines surged ahead in the 15th minute when Odafa sent in a powerful volley that beat the entire line of Sesa defence and keeper Thockchom Singh, to put Churchill in the lead.
Sunday made amends for his earlier lapse beating Thockchom under the Sesa bar in the 43rd minute consolidating the lead after he was out through by Odafa.
Just on the brink of the breather, Alber reduced the margin after being put through by Reyman Fernandes.
Seven minutes from resumption Odafa managed his second goal in controversial circumstances, to put Churchill Bros 3-1 on the scoreboard.
The tall and hefty Odafa was seen tucking and pulling a Sesa defender from the top of the box before he scored his brace, much to the dismay of the Sesa bench. But the referee Parmanand Mandrekar thought otherwise.
Churchill Bros players earned two yellows and a red card. In these moments Alber was a constant thorn for the rival defence. In the process, Alber was badly knocked on the head by Churchill Bros defender Harpeet Singh.
Alber returned to the field only after having his head heavily bandaged. He continued his dangerous speedy runs down the left flank causing frequent problems to the Churchill fort. He was again brought down in a goal mouth melee much to the dismay of his teammates which ruled out for the rest of the match.
Sunday was given marching orders when he punched Sesa’s Paresh Korgaonkar in the face.
Despite this, young Goan Sesa lads fought well and earned a goal. Caetano Veigas reduced the margin for Sesa making it 3-2. It what meant to be a cross from the right flank, Veigas’s shot sailed in the goal catching Churchill keeper Gurpreet Singh by surprise.
But the most controversial moment which earned the ire of the people in the stadium was the denial of a crystal clear handling of a goal bound ball by Churchill’s defender Mainoo Dadanavoor. The referee failed to acknowledge the deliberate handling of the ball and awarding a penalty in favour of Sesa. His assistant Ritesh Parsekar also failed to raise his flag. The entire Sesa bench were up on their feet protesting with Sesa coach Anthony D’Souza fuming.
Herald even over heard most fans saying that Sesa FA deserved a point if not full points.
