DULER: Sporting further extended the lead at the top as they hammered Panjim Footballers 4-1 in the Goa Professional League match, organised by Goa Football Association, played at Duler Stadium, on Saturday.
Abiola Afuwape scored the brace, while birthday boy Victorino Fernandes and Cajetan Fernandes added a goal each for Sporting. Akeraj Martins netted the only goal for Panjim side.
Panjim who did not feature in the last two rounds made three changes to his side which defeated Guardian Angel SC in the last match as Nigerian Midfielder Alphonse Shako made the debut, while, defender Devendra Pednekar and midfielder Sachidanand Satelkar were the other changes in the Panjim side.
Whereas, Sporting coach Mateus Costa continued to rotate his squad despite an unbeaten run in the league, however, this time he made only one change bringing in Ganesh Thakur in place of Marcus Mascarenhas.
Sporting had a great start to the match as they took just four minutes to open their account as Nigerian striker Abiola Afuwape stylishly headed between the defenders and the keeper to send his side ahead. Cajetan Fernandes was the architect of the goal with an inch-perfect corner.
Six minutes later, Cajetan himself had an opportunity to double the lead but his curling free-kick from just outside the box was denied by the woodwork. However, in the 17th minutes, Victorino Fernandes extended their lead when he made an easy tap-in from close off Ganesh’s through pass from outside the box.
Cajetan was once again major stakeholder in the goal as he had set-off Ganesh with a defence-splitting through pass from the halfway line.
Victorino had the chance to complete his hat-trick within next 15 minutes but on both the occasions Panjim keeper Gurpreet Singh blocked him in a one-on-one situation to limit the damage.
Sporting added another goal at the start of the second half as Cajetan once again came up with a brilliant assist to Abiola whose chipped shot over the inrushing keeper Gurpreet, finished in the back of the nylons making it 3-0 for the Flaming Oranges.
Four minutes later, Panjim pulled one back through Akeraj Martins as the forward made no mistake to put the ball in the net after receiving a short pass from Snedden Rodrigues.
However, Sporting once again restore the three-goal lead in the very next minutes as Cajetan calmly finished the ball home from the penalty spot after rival defender Schubert D’Costa handled the ball in the box to give away the spot kick.
