MAPUSA: Santa Cruz Club of Cavelossim defeated Vasco Sports Club by a 1-0 deficit in the Goa Professional League match, organised by Goa Football Association, at Duler Stadium, on Saturday.
Vasco Sports Club who had registered their first win in the last match against Guardian Angel SC had fielded the same playing XI.
Head coach Severino made two changes to Santa Cruz Club of Cavelossim side which lost against Corps of Signals in the last match as Samson Fernandes and Michael Silva made the cut.
Santa Cruz Club of Cavelossim got the first opportunity at the goal as their striker Semson shot from the top of the box only to see the ball collected by the Vasco keeper Suresh Lamani.
At the other end, Vasco Sports Club also came up with a potent chance in the 9th minute, when Anil Gaonkar found John Nnanna in the box with a brilliant cross from the right but the Nigerian striker failed to head the ball on target.
Minutes later, both the team tried to keep possession of the ball as the match was restricted to midfield play for about 25 minutes.
In the 34th minute, Cavelossim’s Allwyn Vaz went for glory from the distance only to see the ball pushed for a corner by goalkeeper Suresh Lamani.
However, two minutes later, Suresh could not clear Richard Fernandes’ powerful grounder from the distance as the ball finished in the back of the nylons making it 1-0 for Santa Cruz Club of Cavelossim.
Santa Cruz Club of Cavelossim went confident into the break with a comfortable 1-0 leadover Vasco Sports Club .
Vasco Sports Club regrouped came out stronger as they came close to scoring on many occasions in the second half of the match but failed to finish things off in the final third of the game.
The Nigerian striker Nnanna made a darting run inside the box cutting past a defender and tried to find his teammates in front of the goal with a square pass but Santa Cruz Club of Cavelossim keeper Siddesh Morje brilliantly intercepted the move to keep his side safe.
At the hour mark, Vasco Sports Club winger Clive Coelho made a great footwork to dribble past two defenders in the box but his powerful left-footer was pushed for a corner by keeper Siddesh.
At the other end, Moises D’Sa and Semson had few chances in the later part of the match to double the lead for their side but Suresh’s excellent goalkeeping restricted them from causing further damge to his side.
Vasco Sports Club tried their best but couln’t find the equaliser.
Vasco Sports Club had the best chance in the added time, when Minesh Kunkolkar’s corner was astoundingly headed on the goal by his teammate Myran Pereira but the Santa Cruz Club of Cavelossim midfielder Darren Fernandes cleared the ball off the goal-line to keep his side safe till the full-time whistle.
