PANJIM: Penha de Franca Sports Club edged past United Club 4-3 via the tie-breaker to lift the Sinquerim Cup, organized by Sinquerim Sports Club, at Chowgule ground, Sinquerim, recently.
In the 10th minute a fine cross by Bapu Pednekar provided a goal scoring opportunity for Tushar Dabholkar but the latter failed to give Nerul lead.
Soon, Paul Cardozo created a fine move but it was well defended by Penha de Franca’s Devendra Kauthankar.
In the second half, the teams concentrated on keeping the ball possession for the major period. In the 45th minute, Stanly D’Silva of Nerul moved dangerously upfront after dribbling past Ashvek Malgaonkar but the former failed to keep the ball under control.
Nerul had a golden opportunity to score but Stanly’s close ranger was blocked by Penha de Franca goalkeeper Liao Vaz.
Penha de Franca emerged victorious in the ensuing penalty shoot-out by winning 4-3 in the sudden death through the heroics of Naved Almeida.
The guests present for the prize distribution were Shankar Chodankar (ZP Mayem), Veena Chodankar (sarpanch VP Mayem), Narendra Tari (deputy sarpanch Mayem), Rupesh Thanekar (social worker), GFA executive members Raju Banaulikar and Patrick D’Souza, Babli Mandrekar (ex GFA executive member) and Shekhar Naik who gave away the prizes.
Individual prizes were awarded to Best goalkeeper Liao Vaz (Penha de Franca), Best defender Devendra Kauthankar (Penha de Franca), Player of the tournament Siddhesh Morje (Nerul), Player of the final Naved Almeida (Penha de Franca)
The winner will be awarded Rs 30,000 while the runner-up took home Rs 20,000.
Special mementos were given to referees Rohidas Bhomkar, Yuvraj Tari, Pandurang Korgaonkar, Ashley Fernandes and Nitin Gaddi.
