the goan I network
DULER
Assonora United Sports Club managed to hold Pilerne Sports Club to a 2-2 draw in the GFA Second Division League at Duler stadium here on Wednesday. The first session was well-contested with the teams returning to the dressing room locked in a 1-1 draw at the half time interval.
After today’s match, Assonora United have 11 points from six outings while Pilerne have just six points from seven matches.
In the 15th minute, a fine through-pass was sent by Pilerne’s Royston to Craig Menezes, who instead of taking a crack at the goal, set up Anson D’Souza who coolly tapped the ball into the goal (1-0).
Trailing by a goal, Assonora unit went all out in search of the equaliser where finally in the 26th minute, Akshay Parwar found Brijesh Kankonkar just outside the penalty box and saw the last-named unleash a right-footer into the back of the nylons (1-1).
In the 31st minute, a 40-yard strike by Pilerne’s Russel Fernandes missed the target narrowly, while six minutes later, Francis Fernandes had only the Pilerne goalkeeper Agnelo Fernandes to beat but blasted the ball wide.
On resumption of play, Royston sent a floater to Craig Menezes at the left flank, who on entering the 18-yard-box scored with a stiff grounder to make it 2-1 in 50th minute. However, it did not take long for Assonora United to level the terms where Dikshay Sarif scored from the edge of the box with a curling free-kick (2-2).
It was some brave keeping by the respective custodians that denied the teams from taking the lead. In the 59th minute, Anson D’Souza’s strike from close was blocked by Assonora goalkeeper Chandan for a corner, while at the other end; Pilerne goalkeeper Agnelo Fernandes thwarted Brijesh Kankonkar in an one-to-one situation.
The best chance for Pilerne to level the terms came in the 85th minute where Anson had just the Assonora goalkeeper to beat, but ballooned the ball to the disbelief of his team members and supporters. In the added time, Dikshay almost netted his brace from a direct free-kick.
