MAPUSA: Pritham Ningthoujam and Lesten Martins scored one each in the final quarter of the match to help Sporting Clube de Goa register a 2-0 victory over Vasco Sports Club in a GFA Under-20 Taca Goa First Division League football match at Duler Stadium, here, Wednesday.
The teams started attackingly but their forwards lacked sharpness upfront which led to a goalless first half.
Sporting Clube’s Pritam created problems for the rivals with his pace and in the 20th minute, he sent in a dangerous cross to strike partner Vikharam Singh but Vasco centre-back Amiruddin Kuttaddrar intervened with a timely header.
Five minutes later, Vasco could have surged ahead after Sporting Clube goalkeeper Razak Devsor fumbled to collect Amiruddin’s free-kick and the ball landed to Vasco’s Yogendra Thapa, who however, shot wide in front of an open goal.
In the second session, Sporting Clube enjoyed the lion’s share of ball possession. They went all out with coach Severino Fernandes bringing in speedy Xavier Dias in place of Vikharam.
Xavier made his presence felt with dangerous moves which kept the rival defenders on their toes and in the 57th minute, his free kick found Lesten, whose clever flick beat Vasco goalkeeper Agnelo D’Souza but it hit the upright and was cleared by Amiruddin on the goalline.
Three minutes later, Sporting Clube were unlucky yet again when Jesus Estrocio set up Xavier inside the danger zone, but the striker’s rasping right-footer hit the upright after Vasco goalkeeper Agnelo got his fingertips to the ball.
At the other end, Vasco’s Shubham Shetgaokar made a promising run down the right flank and crossed to onrushing Yogendra but Jesus made a timely clearance.
Sporting Clube broke the deadlock in the 82nd minute after Pritham took advantage of a stray ball inside the rival territory and beautifully curled past the rival custodian.
Vasco tried hard to equalize but Sporting Clube defenders Jyotesh Palkar, Akshay Dabholkar, Costancio Rodrigues and Jesmon Carvalho worked tirelessly to restrain the rival attacks.
In the injury time, Lesten unleashed a 30-yard screamer in what was the last kick and the goal of the game.
At Taleigao ground, Churchill Bros thumped Goa Velha Sports Club 4-1 while Salgaocar Football Club registered a solitary goal victory over Sesa Football Academy at Velsao ground.
Yesterday, Dunes Sports Club piped Sesa Football Academy 1-0 in a GFA under-14 football play-off match (Bardez zone) at Tivim ground.
