Team Herald
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MAPUSA: Tuff Laxmi Prasad registered an impressive 3-0 win over Curtorim Gymkhana in the 14th round match of the Goa Pro League, at Duler Stadium, here, on Sunday. Tuff Laxmi had hammered Curtorim Gymkhana by a 5-0 margin in their first leg encounter.
Both the teams mostly restricted play to the midfield in the first session with vicious moves few and far between. Despite the scoreline, Curtorim Gymkhana refused to play the underdogs throughout the proceedings and were the first to have a crack at the rival goal in the 6th minute of play when Hanslum Furtado saw his long range effort miss the target narrowly.
At the other end, Terence D’Mello gave a lovely through pass to Ndubuisi Opara who neatly made his way past the rival defenders only to tap the ball wide.
Five minutes later, Tuff Laxmi once again came attacking, when Girish Naik set the ball to Opara inside the danger zone, but the Nigerian’s effort was blocked by the rival keeper Muhamad Shaikh, only to see the ball roll to Francis Onyema. However, the keeper was quick to pounce on the ball before the damage could be done.
Hanslum tried to break the deadlock for Curtorim Gymkhana in the 32nd minute of play but once again his 30-yard powerful effort sailed inches past the Tuff Laxmi goal.
After a series of missed chances Tuff Laxmi finally shot into the lead in the 36th minute through a move of several headers. Girish Naik’s corner found Biju Kumar who headed the ball to skipper Ndubuisi Opara, who in turn sent a header to unmarked Francis Onyeama, where the Nigerian made no mistake to put his team into the lead by nodding the ball home, 1-0.
Despite the goal, Curtorim Gymkhana did not lose heart and once again charged at the Tuff Laxmi goal when Anthony Dias made a good run down the right flank and sent a dangerous cross infront of the Tuff Laxmi goal but Mable Miranda failed to get his feet to the ball with the keeper beaten.
Tuff Laxmi managed to double their lead at the brink of halftime when Dalesh Pednekar on collecting the ball from the midfield cut past a host of Curtorim Gymkhana defenders to finish off with a low grounder, 2-0.
Crossing over, Tuff Laxmi continued from where they had left and got back in the scoring act in the 61st minute of play when Agnelo Colaco strike from inside the danger zone was too hot for the keeper to handle, where Opara who was lurking nearby fired the ball home, 3-0. Five minutes later, Curtorim Gymkhana keeper Muhamad came with a brilliant save to thwart Francis Onyeama from further increasing the lead.
