Team Herald
MAPUSA: Panjim Footballers Sports Club snatched a valuable point by holding Calangute Association It was a match of both the goalkeepers who brought some smart saves but it was Panjim keeper Sherwin Da Cunha who outshone his counterpart Savio Paes to keep the Calangute strikers at bay and get their second draw in the GPL campaign.
Calangute had the first clear chance of taking the lead in the 28th minute when Domnic Fernandes’ defence splitting pass found Sanket Jotkar but before the striker could shoot over the Panjim keeper Sherwin Da Cunha left his rearguard in the nick of time to clear the danger.
Panjim were unlucky not to take the lead in the closing minutes of the first half when in the 44th minute Chandan Gawas intelligently set up Daryl Costa but the alertness of the Calangute skipper Nicolau Colaco averted the danger.
Minutes later, keeper Savio Paes brought a smart stop off Candan’s curling cross and the ball came to Valmiky Miranda who was surprised to see his strike sail over the crossbar.
Sherwin Da Cunha brought two back-to -back saves on resumption of the second session for Panjim Footballers, first pairing Dominic’s well taken corner kick and then smartly stopping Sanket Jotkar’s reverse kick who got hold off the loose ball.
Calangute should have walked away with three points in the closing minutes but poor finishing let them down and were disappointed to settle for a point.
First in the 85th minute Calangute`s Dominic tried to find Sachidanand Satelkar inside the danger box but keeper Sherwin intercepted the ball and nullified the attempt.
In the very next minute Calangute’s Sachidanand with a bust of pace got inside the penalty area and send a low cross to Marvoti Horizan whose clever dummy caught the Panjim defense napping to find unmarked Rohan Pednekar who only with the goal at his mercy blasted the ball over the crosspiece to the astonished faces of his teammates.
Rohan Pednekar was once again the culprit in the 88th minute when he failed to find the back off the nets when his header landed in the waiting hands of the Panjim keeper after an inch perfect cross from Sachidanand.
