MAPUSA: Salgaocar Football Club got the better of Goa Velha Sports Club 2-1 in Goa Football Association’s Goa Professional League, round three football match, at Duler Stadium, here, on Sunday.
Gilbert Oliveira converted a 22nd minute penalty to put The Green Brigade ahead while Ivorian Douhou Pierre scored the second in the 48th minute after Oilex Oliveira had equalized before the lemon break.
Salgaocar did start attackingly but their rivals matched them for pace and created threats of their own. Christopher Borges sent a perfect cross from the left but Oilex could not make a timely connection with the ball in front of the goal.
At the other end, Salgaocar worked their way through the rival defence, especially right-wing back Nicolau Colaco, who moved swiftly down the flank. Nicolau’s efforts bore fruit in the 21st minute when he earned his team a penalty after going down to Goa Velha’s Akshay Dhabolkar’s challenge inside the box. Gilbert stepped up for the resultant spot-kick and made no mistake, sending rival custodian Siddesh Morje the wrong way.
Goa Velha did not lose their grip and remained composed, playing to a plan and turned in equalizer in the 37th minute through Oilex. The striker received an intelligent through ball from Duarte and without wasting time toed it past Salgaocar goalkeeper Karanjit Singh from inside the box.
Post resumption, it took Salgaocar only two minutes to score the second as Thangjam Singh sparked the midfield after coming on for under-20 Jason Barbosa. The Manipuri received a pass from Gilbert and sent in a low cross to Douhou, simply slotted past the between the legs of the rival custodian, 2-1.
It could have got worse for Goa Velha when Gilbert fired from close but Siddesh did well to get his gloves on the ball as it eventually kissed the horizontal bar and fell back in play.
Subsequently, Salgaocar had another glorious opportunity to score when Gilbert set up Douhou in a one-to-one situation but surprisingly, the Ivorian blasted wide.
In the final quarter, Goa Velha received a major blow after centre-back Duarte walked out due to an injury but Lino Pereira’s side put a brave performance and resisted the rival attacks.
