MAPUSA: Curtorim Gymkhana held Vagator Parish Youth Sports Club 1-1 in in the GFA’s First Division League match played at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, on Sunday.
Curtorim now have 17 points from 16 matches while Vagator stand with 13 points from equal number of matches.
In their first leg encounter Vagator edged past Curtorim 2-1.
Both sides having lost their previous encounter looked for nothing less than a win, and had they converted from the numerous chances they created, the scoresheet would have read much differently.
Curtorim had the first look at the rival goal when in the 6th minute of play Jesmon Soares on getting hold of a loose ball made his way into the Vagator citadel only to see his strike being collected by the diving keeper Dinesh Moraskar.
At the other end Tanay Naik sent a perfect pass to U-20 Pavan Dhargalkar whose right footer was kept away by Curtorim keeper Shubham Naik.
In the 12th minute Suraj Naik saw his long range outswinging shot go inches past the Vagator goal.
After some midfield play Omkar Satelkar ran up the right flank and set the ball on platter to Tanay Naik whose effort missed the Curtorim goal by a whisker.
Vagator keeper Dinesh once again came with a fine diving save to sway Nelson Fernandes powerful header off Jesmon Soares cross over the horizontal bar.
The best chance for Curtorim to take the lead came in the 39th minute of play when Nelson Fernandes sent a sharp cross into the Vagator 6-yard box which beat keeper Dinesh however unmarked Clifton Rebello having an open goal in front of him faltered when it mattered most.
Changing over Nitesh Salgaonkar made a threatening run into the rival citadel in the 48th minute of play, only to blast the blast the ball wide.
The much awaited goal finally happened in the 53rd minute of play when Nelson sent a long floater right inside the 18-yard box to Ryan Furtado who coolly slotted the ball past the onrushing keeper, 1-0.
Vagator managed to restore parity in the 61st minute of play when Nitesh sent a curling cross, which beat the entire Curtorim defence, to unmarked Pavan Dhargalkar who nodded the ball home, 1-1.
Nitesh time and again came with some vicious runs on the right flank and kept the Curtorim defenders on their toes.
In the final 10 minutes of the match Vagator were twice denied from scoring by the woodwork. In the 81st minute substitute Rama Parsenkar set up Vinayak Mulgaonkar whose low grounder hit the side post.
Two minutes later Pavan Dhargalkar who was left unmarked made his way into the Curtorim camp only to see his firm placement hit the Curtorim post.
