KOLKATA: Sporting Clube de Goa overcame a fighting Pailan Arrows 3-2 in an entertaining 14th round I-league match at Yuba Bharati Krinangan, Friday.
The match started off with Pailan Arrows having to defend more in their half while Sporting Clube pressed for the opening goal.
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Victorino Fernandes broke down the Pailan Arrows resistance early on and scored in the 14th minute off a neat finish. It seemed like the strong Pailan Arrows defensive game at home would be broken down. However, much to the crowd’s surprise Pailan first equalised through promising centre forward C S Sabeth’s goal in the 28th and then took a lead off a Bijendra Rai’s strike in the 35th minute.
Just before the lemon break Sporting’s Rollin Borjes scored the equaliser in the 45th minute to take both teams on level at half time.
In the second half both teams pushed for the all-important winner and resorted to counter-attacking one another instead of an open style of play.
However, unlike the first half there weren’t any scorers and the match looked to be headed for a 2-2 draw. Just when it seemed Pailan would grab another home draw seasoned striker Ogba Kalu scored with just five minutes of play left to win the match for the Goans.
The win takes Sporting Clube towards safety with 17 points of 14 matches while Pailan have to settle with being just above HAL at the bottom of the table.
