PANAJI
Making his debut for the second time after his return to the club, Uttam Rai smashed in two goals to help Dempo Sports Club make light work of Sesa Football Academy with a 4-1 win in the Selvel Goa Professional League, at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, on Monday.
Beevan D'Mello opened the scoring for the Golden Eagles in the ninth minute before Uttam scored in the first-half injury time and then added his second in the 83rd minute. Gaurav Vaigankar (80’) was the other goal-getter for Dempo. For Sesa FA, Kunal Salgaonkar pulled a goal back in the 53rd minute.
Coach Samir Naik started with new recruit Melroy Fernandes in goal and Richard Cardozo in midfield, while Sesa FA had an experienced Cajetan Fernandes in the midfield.
Dempo SC started in full steam and they should have been up by two goals in the opening 10 minutes. Pruthvesh Pednekar crossed in a perfect ball to Uttam, but the ball was deflected by a Sesa FA defender, which was ultimately collected by Sesa keeper Sapan Singh. Then it was Myron Pereira, who was at the right place at the right time to make a goalline clearance to deny Beevan, whose shot beat the keeper but was saved by the defender.
However, the goal finally arrived in the 9th minute which came after a defensive error from Sesa FA. Sandeep S played a backpass to the keeper under pressure and his weak clearance fell to skipper Beevan just outside the box. With the keeper out of his line, Beevan didn’t waste any time and without having a second thought, he curled his shot in the open goal.
Dempo SC continued their surge and tried to get the second but were kept waiting by good defending from Myron and Sandeep. Sesa took time to settle in the game but despite managing to keep Dempo at bay, they couldn’t get the desired shots at goal. Finally, the Golden Eagles scored their second just before the breather and it was Richard, who played a sublime lobbed ball for Uttam upfront and the striker graced the delivery with a perfect shot past the onrushing keeper to give a two-goal cushion for Dempo at the break.
Sesa FA put up a much-improved performance in the second half. They started throwing extra men forward, playing long deliveries in the box. The academy lads showed the intent of fighting back and the goal arrived in the 53rd minute. Dempo SC defender Shallum Pires and keeper Melroy failed to communicate to deal with Aniket Thakur’s long throw which ultimately fell to Kunal after taking a touch of the keeper. And the striker fired home to pull a goal back.
Sesa nearly levelled terms when Melroy was caught out of his position when he came out of the box to clear a long Sesa attack, and the ball came into substitute Myron Borges’ path but his long lobbed shot narrowly missed the open goal.
Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles had an opportunity to regain their two-goal lead when Uttam stylishly flicked the ball to Richard and the latter's goal-bound shot from an acute angle sailed over the crossbar.
Sesa FA pushed for the equaliser going all out upfront, mounting pressure on Dempo SC backline which saw them concede series of free kicks. But the academy lads managed to get just one shot on target which Cajetan curled over the wall but the effort didn’t trouble the Dempo custodian.
Dempo scored the third in the 80th minute from a set-piece. Shallum sent in a long freekick from the halfway mark to an unmarked Gaurav Vaigankar at the far post, who pushed it past the Sesa keeper.
Dempo soon scored their fourth goal in the 83rd minute. It was a well-worked goal as second-half substitute Suraj Hadkonkar set Ariston Costa through, who had a chance to take a shot at goal but he passed to Uttam and the last-named scored his second of the day and the team’s fourth.
