MAPUSA: Salgaocar Football Club continued their unbeaten run as a second half strike by Bikash Jairu helped them to get the better of Churchill Bros Sports Club as GFA’s Goa Professional League resumed after a four-day break, at Duler stadium, here, on Tuesday.
After a barren first session, the all-important strike by Jairu arrived midway in the 70th minute after being fed on the platter by Scottish striker Darryl Duffy.
Salgaocar have collected 23 points from nine outings, extending their unbeaten run in the process. Churchill Bros are currently in the fifth spot with 13 points and still have a match in hand against Sporting Clube de Goa. The Flaming Oranje are a place below their opponents and have 11 points from eight encounters. The tie between the Panjim outfit and the Varca-based side will be interesting to decide who finishes under the top five and qualify for the Super League.
The teams provided end-to-end action in the first session but their strikers missed from ideal positions.
The match sparked to life in the 22nd minute after Churchill Bros’ Pankaj Sona made a daunting run down the right flank but the striker disappointed with his finishing.
Soon, Salgaocar created a threat in form of Zakeer’s long ranger which went inches wide while Jairu’s powerful header found the safe hands of the rival keeper.
Post resumption, Salgaocar started aggressively with a barrage of attacks.
They finally broke the deadlock in the 70th minute after Duffy found Jairu at the edge of the box and the medio unleashed a rasping strike that found the back of the rival nylons.
The Red Machines tried hard in search of the equalizer with prolific striker Odafa Okolie working tirelessly. However, the Nigerians effort did not materialize in the closing stages after excellently dribbling past a host of rival dfenders. Subsequently, Micky Fernandes thunderous 30-yarder missed the mark narrowly.
