With both the teams having already secured a spot in the Second Division for the upcoming season, they threw caution to the wind from the outset, resulting in a thrilling fast paced encounter. The Greens led 2-0 at the breather.
The first 10 minutes saw Salgaocar’s Juniors attack through the flanks with Mangor choosing to attack directly through the centre. Salgaocar broke the deadlock in the 11th minute when a strong run from Liston Colaco was brought to an abrupt end by a crunching tackle just outside the box.
From the resulting free-kick, Harmanjot smashed the ball in the top right hand corner leaving the keeper a mere spectator.
Thereafter, Naro Hari could have put the game to bed in the next 10 minutes as he missed three sitters from hand-shaking distance with only the goal-keeper at his mercy. First was a delightful cross from the left by Klins Mendes, whilst the other was sent in by Liston from the right.
Salgaocar then had to wait until the 35th minute. Liston who has been delightful to watch through the course of the league controlled an aerial ball beautifully and despite the pressure from a couple of defenders managed to smash the ball to the keeper’s left, once again leaving him with no chance.
Immediately, Mangor created a couple of half chances but not really enough to trouble Chinmaya in the Salgaocar goal.
The second half began with Mangor showing a lot of urgency and purpose. Arjones Amor, Sushant Borkar and Manjunath Rathod in particular combined well for Mangor and made some good runs down the flank. However, they lacked creativity in the final third to trouble the Salgaocar defence and the crosses lacked quality as well. They started to use the width of flanks to good effect. However, a superior Salgaocar midfield ensured they dominated possession and kept the Mangor defence on their toes.
In the 58th minute off a corner from Brian, Liston headed in to make it 3-0 in favour of the Greens. Three minutes later, Denil cut past a couple of defenders and placed the ball beautifully to make it 4-0 after receiving a smart ball from Harmanjot on the left.
Salgaocar could have made it with five minutes to go as they earned a penalty for a handball in the box. However, goalkeeper Chinmaya, who stepped up to take the penalty blasted straight at the rival custodian.
However, Salgaocar were not denied a fifth goal as Liston completed his hat-trick and the rout in the 90th minute.
The chief guest for the evening Jaju Fernandes, former assistant secretary and executive member of Goa Football Association, along with guests of honour GFA executive members Anthony Leo Fernandes, John Silva, Prakash Naik presented the trophies to the winners and the runners-up.
