PANJIM: MAPUSA: Riding on a brilliant hat-trick from Prakash Rathod, Pilerne Sports Club registered a comfortable 3-1 win over Goan Warriors in the ninth and final round league match, at Duler stadium, here, on Monday.
Pilerne SC who were leading 2-0 the breather concluded their campaign with 16 points while Goan Warriors SC has nine points.
Prakash Rathod opened the scoring for Pilerne within two minutes from kick-off finishing off a corner delivered into the box by Alrish to give his side the lead.
Stung by the early goal, Goan Warrior responded quickly and almost found the equaliser in the ninth minute but Chetan Shirodkar’s vicious shot was brilliantly saved by Pilerne keeper.
Pilerne nearly scored their second goal in the 13th minute but Siddhant’s powerful shot saw Goan Warriors keeper dive full stretch to stop the ball from entering the net.
Against the run of play, Prakash Rathod got his second goal for Plierne when he cleverly hoodwinked the advancing Goan Warriors keeper with a deft placement to make it 2-0.
Pilerne had a decent chance of getting the third goal before the half time whistle but Russel Fernandes could not find the back of the nets with the keeper out of position.
In a swift counter-attack, substitute Pundalik could not get the better of Pilerne keeper Krupesh in one-to-one situation.
On resumption of second half, Goan Warriors started positively and pulled a goal back through Chetan who guided his header into the net from a long ball delivered into the box by Gopi Gad to make it 2-1.
Goan Warriors almost completed a perfect comeback but Chetan’s hot-blooded shot stuck the Pilerne’s top post and went out.
Pilerne defended resolutely and got the third goal in the added time through none other than Prakash Rathod who after outfoxing a couple of defenders beat the keeper with a low grounder to make it 3-1.
