PANJIM: It was a tale of missed opportunities for Salgaocar Football Club as they comprehensively beat Curtorim Gymkhana 2-0 to progress to the semi-finals of GFA’s knock-out tournament, at 3MTR ground, Navelim, Tuesday.
In a one-sided encounter, the Curotrim lads fought valiantly but came a cropper against the Goa Pro League and Durand Cup Champions. On a warm afternoon, Salgaocar were content to resort to possession football. However, they did look threatening every time they had the ball in the opposition half.
After spurning a few glorious opportunities to break the deadlock, a fine cross from Gurjinder saw an onrushing Darryl Duffy head home for the opener in the 28th minute. Thereafter, The Greens won a succession of corners but were unable to add to their lead.
The script did not change much in the second half with the Curtorim lads happy to just clear their lines. Duffy should have done better on a couple of occasions with only the rival goal keeper at his mercy.
In the 65th minute, Gilbert Oliveira was rather unlucky not to find his name on the score sheet as his stiff grounder came back into play after crashing against the inside of the upright.
Salgaocar did eventually double their lead in the 69th minute when a nice interchange of passes between Bikash Jairu and Dawson Fernandes saw the latter’s overhead ball find the former at the top of the box on the right. Jairu switched the ball to his favoured left foot and his firm shot sneaked inside the near post beating the keeper all ends up.
Salgaocar FC next face the winner of Sporting Clube de Goa and Sesa FA in the semi-finals on December 20. The final is scheduled on December 22.
