AGENCIES, AIZAWL: A goal each in the first half from Nicholas Fernandes and Loveday Enyinnaya helped Sporting Clube de Goa registered their first win over Aizawl FC 2-0 in the I-League match at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, here, on Monday.
Both the goals came in spectacular fashion as Nicholas scored within 16 second from the kick off making it one of the fastest goals I-League has seen while Loveday scored with a long range effort right from the half way mark giving the Goan side a perfect start to their campaign in the Highlands.
The win took Sporting Clube de Goa to the fifth position in the table trailing Mumbai FC and East Bengal who are on fourth and third positions respectively by a point.
Sporting Clube started off in style when Nicholas capitalised on a defensive error made by Lalruatthara of Aizawl FC in the opening minute of the game to give Sporting Clube the exact kind of start they were looking for. While Sporting Clube enjoyed the early lead, they also ensured to maintain the pressure forcing the Aizawl FC players to play deep in their half.
Nicholas and Odafa Okolie combined well giving a good mix of pace and power as they kept testing the Aizawl FC defence at regular intervals. Aizawl FC tried getting back in the game but couldn’t really convert some of the promising moves created by their artistic midfield.
The Sporting Clube’s pressure paid off as their Nigerian import Loveday scored a screamer from half way mark with a pin point shot beating the keeper perfectly to give the Flaming Oranje unit a comfortable 2- 0 lead in the 30th minute.
Towards the closing stages of first half, Aizawl FC forwards managed to get a few shots but were either off target or saw the Sporting Clube custodian Arindam Bhattacharya pull out some magnificent saves. The match stayed at 2-0 as the sides switched over.
Second half saw a more organized Aizawl FC side trying to get back into the game with urgency. They attacked right from the kick off and came close to scoring on two occasions but the in-form Arindam had different plans. He was having a fantastic outing making some magnificent saves from point blank range.
The best chance of second half came Aizawl FC’s way in the 62nd minute as Valpuia missed a sitter from hand shaking distance. At the other end, Pratesh Shirodkar of Sporting Clube sent a powerful shot straight into the hands of the keeper.
Rest of the time saw Sporting Clube players trying to maintain possession and frustrated the Aizawl FC midfield which by then had completely run out of steam.
At full time, the score stayed 2-0 in favour of Sporting Clube. The Flaming Oranje defender Loveday picked up Hero-of-the-Match award for his fantastic goal and outstanding defensive contribution in the game.
A jubilant Sporting Clube Coach Mateus Costa said, “We played well. This is exactly what I wanted the boys to do. They have shown true character in scripting the victory.”
He further added, “We have had some fine training sessions, it was just the matter of emulating the same in a match, they did it perfectly today.”
When quizzed about the Aizawl side he said, “They have some fine players and can be really dangerous from the flanks. We had done our homework and stuck to our plan, it worked well for us. We are really happy to pocket the three points and most importantly keeping a clean sheet.”
