MAPUSA: Ten-man St. Savio’s Sports Club registered a 2-1 win over host Goa Police Sports Club in the inaugural match of the 15th Edition of Goa Police Football Cup organised by Goa Police Sports Cell, at Duler Stadium, here on Saturday.
In a keenly fought encounter the teams went into the breather locked in a 1-1 draw.
St. Savio’s received a jolt in the 4th minute with the sending off their keeper Augustine D’Mello by referee Prasad Surlekar for collecting the ball from outside the penalty box.
The Calangute colts came up with a marvellous display despite being a man down yet took the lead in the 24th minute where a scorching right footer from Ashley Lobo crashed into the back of the nylons to make it 1-0.
Goa Police colts went all out in search of the equaliser.
Finally in the 44th minute the Calangute keeper missed in clearing the ball to find Hemant Kholkar to guide the ball into the goal
On crossing ends, in the 54th minute, St. Savio’s were awarded a penalty after the Police defender Balchandra Vernekar handled the ball inside the penalty box. Pedro Gonsalves stepped forward and scored to make it 2-1.
Trailing by goal, the Police colts time and again attacked the rival citadel but failed to find the net. In the 65th minute, a 30-yard shot from Milind Shinde was punched away by the Calangute keeper and the ball fell to unmarked Mouzan Sheikh whose header went over the post.
At the other end, St. Savio’s should have further extended their lead where a blistering shot from outside the penalty box from Ashley Lobo was brilliantly collected with a diving save by the Police keeper Nikhil Naik.
In the closing stages of the match, another goal scoring chance went in vain for Calangute where Prayjot Parsekar had just the Police keeper to beat but surprisingly the shot tamely into the keeper’s gloves.
Siddharth Shirodkar of St. Savio’s SC Calangute was declared the Man-of-the-match.
Meanwhile under the floodlights, Churchill Brothers Sports Club registered a thumping 6-0 win over SRPF Maharashtra Police.
The Maharashtra colts managed to restrict the I-League side the Red Machines from scoring just three goals in the first session of play. It was Alber Gonsalves who netted a brace with Uttam Rai adding his name to the scorers list.
The Maharashtra colts did have the first attempt at the rival goal where Shubham Daima’s strike at the first post was blocked for a corner by the Churchill keeper Ricardo Cardozo.
In the 6th minute, Churchill’s Terrence Lobo’s free kick was fisted over the post by the Maharashtra keeper Moshin Khan. Jovel Martins’ corner found Alber Gonsalves who scored with a low header past the rival defence and the keeper to give Churchill the lead
As the match progressed, it was Maharashtra keeper Moshin Khan, who made a breath taking save to thwart Richard Costa in a one-to-one situation.
Minutes later, Suraj’s firm header and Uttam Rai’s strike was blocked by the defenders from close.
After some missed chances, the Red Machine doubled their lead in the 27th minute when Uttam Rai darted inside the penalty box from the right flank and slotted the ball into the far corner of the goal to make it 2-0.
In the 44th minute, Terence Lobo curled the ball past the Maharashtra defence where Alber Gonsalves superbly scored with a diving low header to make it 3-0.
On crossing ends, the Red Machines were camped mostly inside the rival territory where Uttam Rai completed his hat-trick by scoring in the 58th and 68th minutes.
If not for some fine keeping by Moshin who made three smart saves to deny Alber Gonsalves, Richard Costa and substitute Nicholas Fernandes the score sheet would have read differently.
Substitute Abhishek Rawat netted in the sixth goal. Man-of-the-Match was awarded to Uttam Rai of Churchill Brothers
