DULER: Salgaocar Football Club hammered Panjim Footballers 5-2 in their last Goa Professional League match organised by Goa Football Association, at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, on Thursday.
Clencio Pinto scored a brace while Nigerian forward Joel Sunday and Brian Mascarenhas scored a goal each for the Green Brigade, whereas, Panjim defender Schubert D’Costa scored an own goal to give the lead for opponents. Egyptian Fady Riad and Snedden Rodrigues scored the consolation goals for the Panjim side in the second session.
These three points made no difference in Salgaocar’s standing as they finished at the 3rd position with 44 points, while Panjim concluded their season at the 9th position with just 19 points.
Panjim who had drawn with Goan FC in the last match had only one change as their coach Savio Vaz named Congo midfielder Alphonse Shako in the starting XI, whereas, Salgaocar coach Norbert Gonsalves made five changes to his side which went down to Goans in the previous round match as goalkeeper Nora Fernandes, Clencio Pinto, Rosario Mendes, Saeesh Halarnkar and Brian Mascarenhas found their names in the playing XI.
After an end-to-end play in the first few minutes, it was Panjim who created the first potent chance of the match in the early first session when their Egyptian midfielder Riad sent a perfect cross to Snedden Rodrigues in the box but the lad failed to keep his header on target.
At the other end, Salgaocar surged ahead in the 18th minute when Panjim defender Schubert D’Costa tapped in his own goal in the process of clearing Brian’s cross from the left making it 1-0 for the rivals.
Salgaocar doubled their lead in the 25th minutes when Nigerian front man Sunday brilliantly assisted Rosario’s long throw-in to Clencio who slotted the ball in the back of the nylons from close to make it 2-0 for his side.
Salgaocar scored two more goals in the last five minutes of the first session as first, Nigerian forward Sunday shot past Salgaocar keeper Nora from close after receiving a perfect low cross from Brian, while, Brian himself scored the fourth goal for his side in the 42nd minute when he made a superb run in the box and fluently chipped the ball above advancing custodian to put Salgaocar into the commanding position at the half-time.
On resumption of play, Panjim quickly reduced the margin when their Egyptian midfielder Riad made no mistake to convert the spot kick after Salgaocar Nigerian defender Keita Boubacar brought down Panjim striker Snedden in the box to give away the penalty where the Egyptian sent the Salgaocar keeper Nora the wrong way from the spot to make it 4-1.
A few minutes later, Clencio scored his second and team’s fifth goal when he brilliantly dribbled past two defenders in the box and blasted the ball in the back of the net to make it 5-1 for the Greens.
Salgaocar had two more chance to further increase their lead but Panjim keeper Gurpreet came with excellent saves as he first paired Nigerian striker Sunday’s powerful striker for a corner, while a few minutes later, Mackroy Peixote’s goalbound shot was divingly pushed for a corner.
At the other end, Snedden further reduced the margin for the Capital city side in the 81st minute when Egyptian Riad set up the striker with just keeper to beat who made an easy tap-in to make it 5-2.
