Team Herald
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DULER: Corps of Signals came from a goal down to beat Santa Cruz Club of Cavelossim 2-1 in the Goa Professional League match, organised by Goa Football Association, played at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, on Thursday.
Allwyn Vaz gave a great start to Cavelossim with an opening goal in the 26th minutes, while Harshad Thube cancelled it in the 36th minutes with a spectacular goal. Pawan Thakur scored the winner for the Army men within the next three minutes.
With the win, Signals has 14 points from 12 outings, while Cavelossim has six points from 10 matches.
Signals were in poor form as they were without any win in the last six matches. Their recent defeat was against Calangute Association in the previous round match, while Cavelossim were also in the similar form as they had lost their last four matches. However, Army Men had an advantage in head-to-head as they had defeated Cavelossim in the previous meet.
Cavelossim were the first to find the net in the 26th minutes when their U-20 striker Allwyn eased past Signals keeper Binu Purushothama after receiving a perfect pass from Ashley Araujo from the halfway line.
A minute before this, Signals had the best chance to take the lead as Kejins K’s corner found Chand Singh in the box but the defender saw his shot blocked by keeper Joseph from close.
Another chance came into Signals way in the 31st minutes, when Romans MS sent a perfect cross to Pawan Thakur in the box whose simple tap-in could have equalised for the Army men but the midfielder wasted too much time as Cavelossim defender cleared the danger.
After some probing attacks, Signals finally put the level on terms in the 36th minutes when Harshad Thube’s scorching right footer entered the far-post making it all equal for his side.
Three minutes later, Pawan put Signals into the lead with a fine header from close after he was set up by Harshad with a brilliant cross from the left.
Pumped by a goal, Pawan once again came close to scoring in the added time of the first session but his curling shot was pushed away by Cavelossim keeper Joseph.
On changing the ends, Cavelossim should have found the equaliser in the 51st minutes when Ashley sent a cross to substitute Cayven Araujo who headed on the goal but Signals keeper Bino made no mistake tip it for a corner.
Later, Signals also had a chance to further inflate their lead but U-20 striker Cyril failed to beat Cavelossim’s custodian in a one-on-one situation.
At the other end, Cavelossim had a golden chance to put the term on the level when Signals defender Romans brought down Samson Simoes inside the box to award a penalty for the opponents but Moises D’Sa wasted an easy opportunity as he shot wide from the spot.
The last few minutes were intense for the Signals defenders as Cavelossim came out all attacking, however, Signals last line along with their keeper Binu stood tall to clear every danger.
