TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Captain supreme, Malcom Gonsalves netted a spectacular free kick, two minutes from time to give Sporting Clube de Goa a 2-1 victory over Salgaocar Football Club in their opening GFA U-14 encounter, at Don Bosco ground, Panjim on Thursday. The match was 1-1 at the breather.
With the hard working AIFF Academy Technical Director Scott O’Donnell looking on from the sidelines, both teams gave a good advertisement for Goan youth football.
The Flaming Oranje juniors had the first look at the goal when Malcom rounded the goalkeeper and from an acute angle chipped the ball goal bound, but a Salgaocar defender was alert to the danger and gently cleared the ball off the goal line.
From the resulting corner, Sporting Goa’s Nikhil fired the ball just wide of the post with a low drive from the edge of the box.
Nine minutes before the lemon break, Salgaocar took the lead after the ball rebounded into the path off Kimran Fernandes who blasted it into the roof of the net.
From the restart, Sporting Goa went straight on the attack with the ball being fed to Aman Govekar who coolly dispatched it into the far corner to net the equaliser, after a sublime burst of pace.
Salgaocar had a couple of good attempts before halftime, but the Sporting Goa custodian Akshat Hadkonkar pulled off two reflexive saves to deny them.
Changing over, the teams painstakingly battled hard in search of the match winner. In the end it was Sporting Goa who took the initiative to surge ahead, to the delight of the parents who had gathered top cheer on their wards.
Salgaocar’s Jario Fernandes, brought down Malcom Fernandes 25 yards from goal, with the later receiving the only booking of the match.
Malcom picked himself up, dusted his knees, took aim and sent a sparkling free kick into the top corner off the net to win the game for Sporting Goa with seconds left on the clock.
Vasco correspondent adds Dempo SC edged past Vasco SC 2-1in the GFA U-14 match played at the TB Cunha Sports complex, Casnsaulim on Thursday.
Jonathan D’Souza’s first half finish put Dempo in the lead but early in the second half Vasco pulled level through Sherwyn Fernandes before Criston Colaco netted the winner for Dempo.
In the first half Dempo tried hard to score with good ball possession and accurate passing but could not convert. In the 16th minute Dempo’s Jonathan D’Souza gave no chance to the rival keeper with a clinical finish to put them in the lead.
With Vasco trailing in the second half, the lads showed good movement on the field and finally found the equaliser through Sherwyn Fernandes in the 57th minute.
Dempo dint take long to restore the lead with Criston Colaco scoring the winner in the 62nd minute.
