MAPUSA: Trailing by a goal, St. Savio’s Sports Club, Calangute held their nerves to overcome a strong challenge from Dunes Sports Club and register a 2-1 win in the GFA’s Geno First Division League, at Duler stadium, here, on Friday.
With Friday’s victory, St. Savio’s moved to 17 points from 10 matches while Dunes who tasted their first defeat remained on 12 points from 9 matches.
All the goals came in the first session with Devendra Pednekar scoring for Dunes while the Calangute outfit got two quick goals through Rayman Fernandes and Vivek Kanulkar to seal full three points.
Dunes started brightly and went ahead in the very eighth minute through Devendra Pendnekar who after being found by Shashank Ashvekar from the corner kick at the far post guided his header past the keeper.
Stunned by the early goal, Calangute took time to regroup and had the first decent attempt in the 27th minute when Rayman Fernandes’ long range shot was comfortably collected by Dunes keeper Shridhar Pujar.
Calangute then had two chances in quick succession in the 38th and 39th minutes but the equaliser was eluded until the very next minute when Rayman Fernandes 30-yard shot bulged into the net leaving no chance to the keeper, 1-1.
It did not take long for Calangute to consolidate their lead later when Samuel D’Souza who was through on goal was well stopped by the Dunes keeper and the ball came to Vivek Kanukar who without wasting any time fired it into the goal to make it 2-1.
Changing ends, Dunes took the field with more urgency to get back on terms and had two decent attempts, first in the 60th minute Jayesh Chopdekar tried his luck from a distance but his shot travelled wide and then Anson Lobo busted into the penalty box and let go of a fierce left footed shot which was punched out for a corner by Calangute’s keeper Selwyn D’Souza.
Dunes nearly found the equaliser during the six minutes added time but Vivek Naik who was found by Sylvester from Shashanak Ashwekar’s corner headed the ball wide off the goal to the disappointment of the players and the dugout.
Yogendra Thapa of St Savio’s SC received the man-of-the-match trophy from Alex Fernandes former President of Calangute Association.
At Sirsaim ground, Sesa Football Academy continued their winning run beating Goa Police SC 2-1.
An early goal from Viegas for SFA in the seventh minute allowed the table toppers to dominate the first half. A pinpoint cross from the left flank was not dealt with the Goa Police defense and Viegas lurking in from close range scored an easy tap in goal.
In the 21st minute, SFA top scorer Olvin scored yet another screamer as he ran past the offside trap to shoot it in the top right corner of the goal. The goalkeeper was left with no chance as the defense line of Goa Police SC looked unorganized and allowed Olvin to run onside.
The second half didn’t turn out to be in favor of SFA as Viegas received a direct red card for a handball on the touchline. A penalty was awarded for the same and Gulrez Khan scored for Goa Police from the spot. SFA boys were one man down in the 52nd minute as Goa Police started bombarding the players forward. The game opened up as Goa Police looked for an equalizer but were denied by SFA goalkeeper, Sapam who has started all the games for SFA in the league.
Stephen Colaco was substituted for Joston as coach looked to make changes in the attack for SFA in the 73rd minute. Olvin was substituted in the dying minutes of the game for Kunal who looked to chase down the ball quickly and pressurized the defensive line.SFA survived for the rest of the game with only ten men.
Anil was awarded man-of-the-match for his consistent performance throughout the 90 minutes.
At Ambelim ground, Fhezer Gomes scored an injury time equalising goal as Salgaocar FC held Youth Club of Manora 1-1.
The teams played a goalless first 45 minutes. In the second half, Manora took the lead through Jouston Barbosa in the 54th minute. Salgaocar FC kept trying to find the much needed breakthrough and finally their efforts paid off when Fhezer Gomes made it all square in the 90+1 minutes.
Fhezer was named the man-of-the-match.
