Team Herald
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MAPUSA: Penha de Franca huffed and puffed on their way to a 4-3 win over United Club of Telaulim to claim the top spot of the GFA’s First Division League table, in the match played at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, on Saturday.
Penha de Franca initiated the first raid on their rivals in the early 3rd minute of play however Leander D’Cunha’s blistering long range effort missed the target by a whisker.
Ten minutes later Telaulim took the lead when Donald Rocha curled his free kick right inside the Penha de Franca goal area towards Clinton Niasso who made no mistake the slot the ball home, 1-0.
Clinton came close to netting the second for Telaulim within a span of three minutes however he faltered at the goal.
While Telaulim missed an opportunity it was Penha de Franca who got into the scoring act when Leander set up Suraj Kauthankar who danced his way into the rival citadel before placing the ball into the nets to make it 1-1.
Couple of minutes into the match Clinton Niasso was once again unlucky in front of the goal as his blistering right footer banged the Penha woodwork.
Telaulim made some threatening forays into the rival camp however Ashley Dias, Savio Fernandes and Clinton failed time and again.
Within two minutes of changing ends, Penha de Franca took the lead when Anil Gaonkar made a threatening run into the Telaulim camp and set up Raju Padoshi who scored through a placing strike, 2-1.
Within a span of a few minutes Penha de Franca scored their third goal when the rival keeper had no answer to Leander’s 20-yard shot, 3-1.
Finding themselves on the back foot Telaulim stepped up the attack and managed to restore parity through a fine brace by Anil Shirvoikar who scored in the 64th minute and in the 82nd minute to make it 3-3.
When it looked the match would end in a draw Penha de Franca sealed the fate of the match in their favour when in the 86th minute Josley Dias leapt high above his marker to head in Leander’s free kick.
