Team Herald
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PANJIM: Sporting Clube de Goa and Dempo Sports Club registered important wins in their respective encounters in the Goa Professional League on Monday.
While Flaming Orange eased past Calangute Association with a 3-1 win at Duler Stadium, Dempo Sports Club downed FC Goa 2-1 in a closely fought encounter.
Sporting Clube de Goa took an early fifth minute lead from a corner kick where Girish Naik’s delivery was headed in by Alton Vaz.
Calangute Association had a couple of chances in the game where Moises and Ganesh Thakur both tested rival custodian Ozen Silva.
Calangute were also the victim of poor refereeing by Prasad Surlakar as he first denied a penalty to the Beachside club in the 18th minute when their winger Chaitan was brought down in the area by a Sporting defender.Later, there was another blunder by the referee, who this time denied another spot-kick to Calangute following a clear handball by a Sporting defender in the box.
There were some nervous moments for Sporting Clube de Goa who finally succumbed to Calangute Association’s pressure as they conceded in the 33rd minute when Ganesh intercepted a back pass from a Sporting Clube de Goa player and played it towards Jovito Fernandes, who kept his composure before scoring past Ozen Silva.
Calangute Association had the chance to take the lead when Ganesh played a through pass to Veron, who struck from outside the box, only to see his effort sail over the bar.
In the second half, Sporting Clube de Goa attacked in numbers and nearly took the lead in the 49th minute when Marcus Mascarenhas got past the rival defence but his goal-bound effort was cleared off the line by Umesh Pujar. In the 52nd minute, Sporting regained their lead when Marcus Mascrenhas’ goal bound cross was sent into Calangute Association’s goal by their own defender Melvin Lobo. In the dying minutes of the game, Akeraj Martins scored the team’s third goal to seal full points for his side. At Chowgule ground, Dempo Sports Club defeated FC Goa 2-1.
FC Goa were first to take the lead in the 19th minute through Brison Fernandes but Pedro Gonsalves ensured the Golden Eagles walk into the breather with the scores level netting a injury time equaliser. Dempo SC scored the second goal in the 62nd minute through Klusner Pereira, which proved to be the decisive goal of the game.
Results
Sporting Clube de Goa 3 (Alton 5’, Melwin (OG) 52’, Akeraj 89’) Calangute Association 1 (Jovito 33’); Dempo SC 2 (Pedro 45+’, Klusner 62’) FC Goa 1 ( Brison 19’)
