MAPUSA: Vasco Sports Club held unbeaten Sporting Clube de Goa to a goalless draw to split points in the ninth-round match of the GFA’s Professional league played at Duler Stadium, here on Tuesday.
It was a damaging result for Sporting who could have leapfrogged Dempo to the first spot, but now remain on the second spot with 18 points while Vasco have seven points.
In a dull encounter where very few chances were created by each side as Sporting clearly missed the services of both their strikers, Marcus Mascarenhas (hamstring injury) and Philip Odogwu (double booking) upfront to create any penetration into the Vasco defence.
Vasco should have opened the scoring in the 8th minute when a long ball from skipper Anil Gaonkar found Mathew Colaco who outsmarted wing back Brandon Gomes with his pace and then entering the box unleashed a vicious left footer which zoomed past the crossbar.
In the next thirty minutes the ball was mostly confined to the midfield as both the teams could not find a way past each other well drilled defence. However, Sporting Clube de Goa coach Savio made an early substitution which took everyone by surprise as he replaced Shanon with Akeraj Martins. An unnecessary substation which didn’t create an impact in the game.
Sporting scuffed up a golden sitter of making it 1-0 when George D`Souza fierce freekick was not cleanly collected by Vasco’s keeper Amit Biswas and the ball came to Stendly who with open goal gapping, blasted the ball wide.
Changing end, in the very second minute, Sporting`s Gautam Dias header was paired out for a corner by keeper Amit Biswas.
Needing a win, Sporting coach Francisco Vaz introduced Cajetan Fernandes and Girish Naik to find some spark in the attack but found it difficult to get past Vasco’s defense of Sanwil, Amit, Mainoo and Anil who defended resolutely.
Sporting had two more attempt before the end of regulation time to get the winning goal but a header by Peter Carvalho and a low shot by Akeraj Martins were off target which summed up their poor display in front of the goal in today`s match.
Sporting coach Francisco Vaz said he was not content from the result of match. “We did miss the services of Marcus and Philip upfront but our players failed to score from the chances they created,” said Francisco Savio Vaz.
Vasco in charge Micky Fernandes was very much content from the performance by the players. “A point from an unbeaten team was indeed a good result said the coach.” He exclaimed.
