AMEBLIM: Sesa FA overcame Churchill Brothers SC 20-19 via a thrilling tie-breaker in the last game of the league phase of the Goa Sevens Premier League, organised by Goa Sevens and Ambelim Sports Club in association with Goa Football Association (GFA), at Ambelim Sports Complex, on Saturday.
Nicholas Fernandes scored a brace for the Churchill side, while Caitaina Fernandes and Mark Barretto scored for the Sesa side.
Both the sides came into the game off wins against St Savio SC. The sides having already qualified for the knock-out stages began the game to finish the group stages on top.
Sesa took the lead through Mark Barreto who shot off a rebound shot by Cyrus Noronha that gave the academy side a lead in the 10th minute.
Post this, the teams kept swapping possession and aimed for more goals. On the other hand, the red machines kept attacking and searched for the leveller. Bonny Niasso was instrumental in the Churchill midfield as his curling shot missed the target.
But their hard work finally paid off with Nicholas Fernandes shooting into the left corner of the post making the scored levelled as both sides headed into half 1-1.
Moving into the second half, the game witnessed an end to end encounter as the Sesa side were attacked by the red machines. First Alber Gonsalves missed in a close tap in while later, Jovel Martins’s shot was tapped away by the Sesa keeper.
But at the other end, Sesa FA managed to shoot into the lead as Caitaina Fernandes’s left footer landed into the nets off a defender’s deflection.
Skipper, Richard Costa had some impressive runs in from the midfield but Babu Naik was strong at the back for the Sesa team. The Churchill side were still striking hard to make things levelled and Nicholas Fernandes completed his brace off a fine placement into the nets, 2-2.
In the tie breaker, Sesa FA managed to win through a marathon of penalties over the Churchill side.
