Team Herald
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DULER: Sporting Clube de Goa defeated Salgaocar Football Club 2-0 in the first semi-finals of the 15th Goa Police Cup, organised by Goa Police Department in association with Goa Football Association, played at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, on Wednesday.
The Red Machines will face Sporting Clube de Goa in the final on May 2, at Bambolim Stadium.
The match started with an end-to-end play where the Flaming Oranje were the first to come close to scoring when Alesh Sawant sent a perfect corner to Philip Odogwu near the first post but the Nigerian striker failed to keep his header on target.
Green Brigade also had a chance to open their account in the 9th minute as U-20 striker Devendra Murgaonkar made a short pass to Umesh Harijan in the box but the midfielder shot wide from 10-yards.
At the other end, Sporting had a golden opportunity in the 20th minute when Salgaocar midfielder Umesh made a back pass to Sporting striker Philip who made a darting run from the halfway line but shot wide with just the keeper to beat from inside the box.
A few minutes later, Salgaocar once again came close to scoring when skipper Rosario Mendes’ long throw-in was assisted to Umesh in the goalmouth by Nigerian forward Joel Sunday but the latter’s shot was brilliantly blocked by the Sporting keeper Melroy Fernandes.
After some probing attacks, Sporting finally surged ahead in the 40th minute when Marcus Mascarenhas calmly slotted the ball in the net after receiving a low cross from Glan Martins to make it 1-0 for his side.
Five minutes later, Nigerian striker Philip doubled their lead as he smartly headed in off Cajetan Fernandes’ fine corner to make it 2-0 for Sporting at the half-time.
Alesh was unlucky not to inflate Sporting’s lead in the early second half as his powerful shot from the distance was denied by the woodwork.
Sporting should have further inflated their lead but the aimless shots from Cajetan, Girish Naik and Philip limited the score-line.
Salgaocar tried hard to come back into the match as their coach sharpened their attacking with a double substitution, bringing in Clencio Pinto and Agnelo Colaco but the Sporting defence led by Sodik, Joseph Clemente along with George D’Souza and Myron Fernandes cleared every danger.
In another match, Churchill Brothers Sports Club knocked-out Guardian Angel Sports Club 5-1.
After an attacking play in the first quarter, Churchill opened their account in the 27th minute when their Nigerian striker Francis Oneyama brilliantly cut past a defender and curled the ball to Alber Gonsalves in the goalmouth who made an easy tap in to send Churchill into the lead.
However, they could not hold the slender lead for too long as Guardian Angel found the equaliser in the 31st minute, as Alson Fernandes’ long throw-in was poked in the net by Aslon Oliveira from close to make it all square for the Curchorem side.
The Red Machines once again surged ahead in the 37th minute when Francis dribbled past a defender and found Uttam Rai in front of empty goal where the striker just had to tap the ball home to restore Churchill’s lead.
After assisting in first two goals, Francis finally wrote his name on the score sheet when he easily dribbled past two defenders and tried his luck from the top of the box which kissed keeper’s gloves before finishing in the net.
Churchill scored the fourth goal at the hour mark when Alber completed his brace with a neat header off Terence Lobo’s curling free-kick from the right.
Churchill continued the rainfall of the goals as they scored another goal in the 69th minute as this time, Rohan Adnaik brilliantly jelled up with Francis for wall passing and clinically finished the ball in the back of the nylons from inside the box to make it 5-1.
