DULER: Sporting Clube de Goa started their GFA U-18 campaign with a promising win over a resilient Dunes side with a 2-0 win, at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, on Wednesday.
Joston Cardoz (36’) and Joyson Gauncar (69’) scored a goal each in either half handing the Panjim side full 3 points.
Sporting Clube nearly had a dream start when an early move created by Desmond Pereira on the left saw Joston Cardoz miss the final touch by a whisker.
The young Oranje looked lethal with their skipper Princeton Rebello dictating terms in the midfield.
Sporting forwards Joston and Sangramsingh looked very effective with some clinical passing from the midfield which kept the Dunes defenders busy for most of the first half.
Dunes had their first look at the Sporting net when their midfielder Onasui Pednekar lashed a long shot which went straight into the hands of Karol Soares.
Sporting Clube skipper Princeton then took matters into his own hands when he got hold of a loose ball in the mid trying to place it past the Dunes keeper with a long scoop but fortunately for the home side ball brushed off the woodwork.
Sporting Clube finally poked one in when a fantastic long ball from Princeton found striker Joston in the box who rounded off the keeper to take a tight angle shot putting the Panjim side ahead before the break.
The score stayed 1-0 in favour of Sporting at half-time.
The second half was more or less the mirror image of the first with the boys in Oranje dominating the proceedings right from the start. The second half substitute Joytion Fernandes provided the necessary muscle power up front to keep the Dunes defenders occupied while Trijoy Dias was pushed up to join Joyson Gauncar trying to exploit the flanks.
Sporting Clube came close on numerous occasions of which the best came when a mouth watering cross from Joyson went screaming past an open Dunes net failing to find any Oranje shirts at its end. Joyson soon made up for the lost opportunity, in the 69th minute he ran a one-man riot after getting hold of a good ball near the half way mark to dribble past a swamp of yellow shirts before placing it past the Dunes custodian making it 2 – 0 for Sporting Clube.
Sporting Clube should have made it three towards the closing stages when Desmond missed a sitter after connecting well with a Trijoy cross.
The match ended 2 – 0 in favour of Sporting Clube.
In another match at Sanquelim ground, Sesa FA and Dempo SC split points after the match ended in a goalless draw.
Kunal Salgaonkar was guilty of squandering an opportunity in the 10th minute of play from inside the goal area while couple of minutes later Melcom Gonsalves’s effort sailed just past the goal.
For Dempo Bores’ powerful right footer was brilliantly kept away by the diving Sesa custodian Runal Gaonkar.
