Team Herald
sports@herald-goa.com
MAPUSA: North Veterans managed to edge past South Veterans by 2-1 margin in an exhibition football match played in honour of Jude Fernandes at Duler Stadium, here, on Wednesday.
Large crowd came to witness the yesteryears football stars - Brahmanand Sankhwalkar, Nicholas Pereira, Salvador Fernandes, Bosco Monteiro, Gajanan Kerkar, Francis D’Souza, Issac, Gokuldas Nagvekar, David D’Souza, Tiburcio D’Souza, Hector Trinidade, Shanti Tople, Kishor Raut, Marcel D’Mello, Anthony Fernandes, Tome, Braz Menezes and Shabbat Alfonso came down from the seating galleries and were introduced to the below 60 years football stars from the North and South Veterans, before the start of the match.
Both the teams demonstrated good ball possession and short passes.
However, strikes from Lino Pereira, Bruno Coutinho, Marcus Carvalho, Pascoal Pereira, Santana Furtado either travelled just over the crossbar or were saved by both the custodians Vikram Sharma and Manoj Keserkar.
Earlier in the match, Claudio Pacheco put North Veterans ahead with a neat placement only to find Robert Fernandes level terms in a similar fashion in the 20th minute of play, 1-1.
On crossing ends, North Veterans’ Alex Alvares 30-yard strike sneaked into the far corner of the goal, with Manoj diving attempt going in vain, 2-1. Anthony Fernandes and John Fernandes highlighted the achievements of Jude Fernandes in their speeches.
Margaret Fernandes, wife of late Baptist Fernandes from Siolim and Matilda Fernandes, wife of Jude Fernandes gave away the winners and runners-up trophies along with the invitees. Julio Cardozo compered the match.