the goan I network
DULER
A 10-man Goan Football Club struggled to register a hard-fought 1-0 win over Panjim Footballers and extended their lead at the top in the Goa Professional League match played at Duler Stadium here on Friday.
It was capital city team’s fourth consecutive loss while a first half goal from Saviour Gama saw the Young Gaurs take their tally to 29 points from 11 matches. Panjim on the other hand are struggling at the 11th spot with just four points from 10 outings.
Goan FC coach Clifford Miranda made four changes to his side that had secured a convincing 3-0 win over Vasco SC in their last match as Aaren D’Silva, Nestor Dias, Brian Faria and Serineo Fernandes found their names in the starting XI. At the other end, the capital city side also made a few changes to their side following a 4-0 defeat against Salgaocar FC in their last round match as U-20 player Dattaraj Gaonkar and Delton Colaco, and Alston Camatio made it to the starting XI.
The Goan FC outfit, who are unbeaten in the league, had the first crack at the rival goal in the 10th minute as Brian sent a neat cross in the box to a well positioned Saviour Gama but his weak header was easily collected by Panjim keeper Massom Ali. The Young Gaurs continued on their domination but failed to find the back of the rivals’ nets.
On the contrary, they received a jolt in the 31st minute with the sending off their midfielder Nestor, who was given the marching orders by referee Sunil Nanodkar for an unnecessary reckless tackle on Panjim’s Prasil Kankonkar. The Panjim defender sustained an injury and had to be replaced by Joyson D’Souza.
Despite being a player down, the Goan FC lads dominated and had a big chance in the 37th minute when Princeton Rebello curled the ball to Aarren in the box, whose tap was acrobatically blocked by the Panjim custodian. However five minutes before the breather, Saviour put Goan FC ahead with a fine header off Aaren’s perfect cross, 1-0.
On resumption of play, Goan FC had a chance to extend their lead as Liston Colaco’s curling free kick was passed to Aaren in the goalmouth by Brian, but he failed to keep his shot on target. In the very next minute, Panjim keeper Ali made a double save as he first blocked Meldon D’Silva’s header off a Princeton’s free kick, and then dived to his right to parry Meldon’s rebound attempt for
a corner.
Another chance went begging for the Young Gaurs in the 69th minute when Liston sent a perfect cross to Sarineo in the box but the winger failed to capitalise on an easy chance from inside the box as his strike went wide. In the last quarter of the match, the Panjim lads tried to penetrate the rival territory but the last line of Young Gaurs defence held on to their one-goal lead till the long whistle.
