MARGAO
Nicholas scored the other goal for the winners. Mauvin Borges scored for Sporting Clube.
The Varca side came from behind to tame Sporting Clube and become the first team to reach the final. Sporting Clube coach Mateus made the intentions clear fielding a strong seven getting back Clifford Miranda, Aniston Fernandes and Semson Fernandes replacing Quan, Nicholas and Elvis. There were no changes in the side for Churchill
Brothers.
The first real chance came in the 12th minute when Churchill Bros keeper Ricardo Cardozo played a direct ball in the rival box, which was flicked in the Sporting goal by their striker, but the goal was disallowed for obstructing
the keeper.
With Churchill Bros defence standing tall, Sporting Clube players opted to fly in long range shots with Glen Martins and Cajetan Fernandes missing the target by inches on couple of occasions. In the 15th minute, George D’Souza saw his rasping shot miss the post by whiskers.
The first quarter saw Sporting Clube dominate the play. In the second quarter both keepers pulled off stunning saves to keep their teams into the match. Vivek Gopal came with the first save of the match in the 16th minute when he blocked Churchill Bros Agnelo Colaco’s shot, at the other end, Ricardo denied Glan.
Churchill Bros almost took the lead in the 23rd minute, when Joshua and Semson played one-two before the former setting the latter at goal, who saw his effort hit the post.
In the first half injury time, Sporting Clube’s Blake’s effort was saved by a diving Ricardo while Churchill Bros’ Agnelo was denied by Vivek.
The jam packed stadium witnessed a thrilling second half as Sporting Clube began the session on an attacking note and had the first shot at goal in the 35th minute when Glan dribbled past couple of rival defenders before seeing his shot parried by the rival keeper. In the very next minute, Mauvin Borges scored the team’s first with an acrobatic kick off Avrhishto’s cross.
Stunned by reverse, Churchill regrouped quickly with Agnelo and Clifford barging forward. The duo combined together to score the leveler in the 47th minute when the former India international pass through to Agnelo and the latter showed his composure bursting the top corner, 1-1.
The Varca side were a different team altogether which showed more attacking intent and managed to take the lead minutes later when Nicholas found Agnelo lurking in the rival box, and the latter’s diving header to score his brace will be surely the goal of the tournament contender.
Down by a goal, Sporting Clube pressed hard to find the leveller but Cajetan and his team missed the shooting boots.
Churchill Bros scored the third in the 57th minute capitalizing on Sporting Clube’s defensive lapse through
Nicholas.
