MAPUSA: Ten-man Tuff Laxmi Prasad Sports Club trounced Guardian Angel Sports Club 3-0 to enter the 13th Police Cup football quarter-finals, at Duler Stadium, here, on Monday. They led 2-0 at half time.
The kick-off was delayed by 30 minutes from the scheduled time of at 4 p.m. as four of Tuff Laxmi Prasad’s new recruits Climax Lawrence, Nicholas Rodrigues (both former Mumbai FC), Biju Kumar and goalkeeper Kunal Sawant did not have their GFA registered player identification cards.
However, after much delay, Tuff Laxmi Prasad replaced the quartet from the line up with custodian Mandar Parab, defenders Stanley D’Silva, Sidharth Kundaikar and medio Sangam Pednekar.
Change of tactics did not bother coach Valentine’s team as they started explosively and took the lead in the very third minute against a young Guardian Angel team.
Foreign signing Ndubuisi Opara looked threathening in the danger zone and headed in the path of striking partner Angelo Colaco, who nodded in from close range.
In the 17th minute, Agnelo did well to win his team a penalty after being brought down by Guardian Angel keeper Johnson Fernandes.
Opara stepped for the resultant spot-kick and converted with ease as Johnson dived the wrong way.
Guardian Angel did have an opportunity to reduce the margin after Tuff Laxmi Prasad’s centre-back Micky Fernandes handled the ball in the danger zone in the 23rd minute but Velington Fernandes was wasteful from the spot-kick as he aimed straight towards the upright.
Five minutes before half time, Tuff Laxmi Prasad were down to 10 men as skipper Remus Gomes was shown a direct red card by match referee Prasad Surlekar for a needless lunge on Guardian Angel’s Godfrey Silva close to the sidelines.
Post resumption, the Bardez outfit continued their dominance as Mackroy Peixoto made it 3-0 with a delightful chip over the rival custodian from an acute angle.
Even after down by three goals, Guardian Angel SC did not give up their fight and tried to score but failed as their strikers failed to create openings.
At the other end, Tuff Laxmi Prasad enjoyed the lion’s share of ball possession but could not add to their goals tally as they were often flagged off-side.
Tuff Laxmi Prasad will play the quarter-finals at the same venue on August 17.
