TEAM HERALD
sports@herald-goa.com
MERCES: In a fast-paced and ill-tempered encounter, Aivao United FC got the better of their village rivals Aivao Youth Club (AYC) by a 2-0 margin in an Ilhas Zone GFA 3rd Division League, at Santa Cruz ground, Saturday.
The match saw end-to-end play from the word go. However, Aivao United were the more incisive as they were able to penetrate the AYC defence at will and nearly forged ahead but Khush Pereira’s free kick was smartly saved by AYC custodian Mahadev Narvekar.
But, Aivao United relentlessly attacked and forged ahead when Nagesh Naik took advantage of a scramble inside the AYC penalty area to score and give his side a 1-0 win.
The second half started in similar fashion and Aivao United should have doubled the lead when they were awarded a penalty after Kushant Gauns of AYC handled the ball inside the danger zone. But, Nagesh was way off the mark to balloon the ball over.
Nagesh then had another chance to redeem himself with the goalkeeper out of position and an empty goal in front of him. But, Nagesh took his own sweet time and allowed the rival goalkeeper to regroup and save his delayed shot.
However, Nagesh made amends for the couple of misses by scoring his second goal at the fag end of the match to give his side a 2-0 win.
In the dying minutes of the match, Aivao United’s Karan Shirodkar was given the marching orders thereby sullying the triumphant mood of his team.
Apart from the lone red card, referee Selwyn flashed as many as six yellow cards, three each to AYC and Aivao United players.
