After today’s win Dempo Sports Club now have 12 points from six matches while Tuff Laxmi Prasad remain at nine points from eight matches.
Buoyed by the large number of fans gathered to support them, Tuff Laxmi shot into the lead in the 10th minute when Mackroy Peixoto saw his header hit the Dempo SC post and bounce back into play. Francis Onyeamna, who did a good followup, got his feet to the ball and fired home to the send the supporters into raptures, 1-0.
Hardly a minute later, Dempo SC came teasingly close to finding the equaliser but Milagres Gonsalves couldn’t keep control on the ball on being set up by Hayden Fernandes.
Crossing over, Tuff Laxmi further increased their lead in the 51st minute to the frustration of the Azuri camp. Agnelo Colaco getting hold of the ball unleashed a powerful 25-yard strike which had no answer from Dempo keeper Tyson Caido, 2-0.
Stung by the way the match was heading, Dempo SC tried hard to get themselves back on track and showed signs of promise in the 60th minute but Aniston Fernandes’ curling free-kick from outside the danger zone was kept away by the alert Tuff Laxmi defender Stanley D’Silva.
Minutes later, the Golden Eagles managed to pull one back when Nickson’s deep cross found Aiken Dias, who leapt high to head the ball home, 2-1.
At the other end, Steven could have got his name on the scorers list but his powerful strike was neatly kept away by Tuff Laxmi goalkeeper Siddhesh Morje.
After Samir Naik and Velito Cruz failed to find the back of the nets for Dempo SC, Nickson gave the Azuri’s their precious equalizer in the 87th minute of play through a free-kick, 2-2.
When it looked the match was heading for a draw, Dempo SC still had some antics to display.
In the 89th minute, Steven Fernandes, had to leave the field on being shown the second yellow card for rough play thereby reducing them to 10 men. And then into stoppage time, Nickson ensured his side finished of with three points, when his long range left footer crashed into the Tuff Laxmi goal.
