MAPUSA: Panjim Footballers registered a hard-fought 3-2 win over Football Club de Bardez in the Goa Professional League match, organised by Goa Football Association, played at Duler Stadium, on Tuesday.
With these three points, Panjim have 14 points from the same number of matches, while Bardez has 15 points from 14 outings.
Bardez coach Armando Colaco brought back Shubham Rao Desai, Kirtikesh Gadekar and Gaurav Vaigankar in the starting XI, following their defeat at the hands of Dempo SC in the last match, while Panjim coach Savio Vaz made only one change to his side after a draw against Corps of Signals in the previous round match as Prasil Kankonkar was back in the playing XI.
Panjim were unlucky not to score in the early stage of the match when Forward Akeraj Martins placed the ball in the empty net but Bardez defender Joliston Rebello who scored an own goal in the last match cleared the ball off the goal-line to keep his side away from the danger.
However, Panjim opened their account within next three minutes when Israeli midfielder Fady Riad’s powerful shot from the left flank was dropped by Bardez keeper David Chauhan giving an opportunity to the opponents, where Akeraj shot past the keeper to take his side into the 1-0 lead.
A few minutes later, Bardez came close to finding the equaliser when Shubham sent a low cross to Clinton Niasso in the box but the forward’s goal-bound shot hit the defender before going out for a corner.
At the other end, Panjim doubled their lead in the 43rd minute when Mahesh Kumar found Fady with a fine cross in the box who made no mistake to finish the ball in the net with brilliant out-footer from inside the box to make it 2-0 for his side at the half-time.
On changing sides, Panjim were the first to look at the goal when Akeraj sent a through pass to Congo midfielder Alphonse Shako in the box but his shot was denied by the woodwork.
In the 52nd minute, Panjim custodian Gurpreet Singh came up with two back-to-back saves as first denied Clinton in one-on-one, while he quickly dived to his left to push Jessel Carneiro’s powerful strike for a corner.
Two minutes later, Bardez reduced the margin when Ronil Azavedo’s right-footer from the top of the box hit the side-post and entered the goal to make it 2-1 for his side.
Energized by a goal, Bardez quickly came with the equaliser when Lalbabu Matho sent a long ball to Jessel on the left flank who made a swift run on the wing and curled it to Clinton in the box who made no mistake to tap the ball home from close making it all square in the 64th minute.
Panjim should have once again taken the lead within three minutes when Mahesh set up Akeraj in the box with a smart through pass but the striker shot wide with just Bardez keeper at the stake.
However, in the 75th minute, Mahesh scored the winning goal for the Capital city side when his shot from close finished in the top corner to grab all three points from the entertaining clash.
