DULER
Calangute Association Sports Club were back to winning ways as they managed to register a hard-fought 1-0 win over Santa Cruz Club of Cavelossim in the Goa Professional League, at Duler Stadium, here on Monday.
Blake Haldankar’s added-on time goal in the first half gave the Calangute outfit full points from the match. After the win, Calangute moved up to the 7th position with 11 points from nine matches, whereas Cavelossim continue their poor run in the league as they just have six points from eight outings.
The teams having suffered back to back defeats in their last two league matches took the field with more purpose and a victory in mind. Calangute, having lost against Dempo SC and Guardian Angel SC in the last two matches, saw their coach Alex Alvares make a number of changes in his starting line-up by fielding defender Bersal Viegas, keeper Jason D’Mello, striker Omkar Satelkar, Blake Haldanak and midfielder Yamnursab Pimjar.
At the other end, Cavelossim coach Severino Fernandes also made five changes to his side following defeats at the hands of Salgaocar FC and Sporting Clube de Goa in the last two matches. He brought in keeper Savio Paes, Filton D’Cunha and Darren Fernandes, while Ashley Araujo and Allwyn Vaz were back in the line-up for the South Goan club.
It was Cavelossim that had the first attempt at the rival goal. However Alvito Miranda’s blistering strike from close hit the goalpost before going out for a goal-kick. At the other end, Calangute also came close to opening their account when Leslee Brito sent a low cross to U-20 striker Satelkar, but the latter shot wide from inside the box. Just two minutes later, Cavelossim midfielder Darren had just the rival keeper Jason at his mercy but saw the keeper come with a timely clearance to deny him a goal.
As the match progressed, Calangute coach brought in Omkar from the bench replacing U-20 Leslee Brito and the striker’s first touch almost resulted into a goal but his strike hit the crosspiece. The introduction of Omkar proved costly for the rival defenders as he moved dangerously from the right wing and sent a perfect cross to Blake in the box who finished clinically into the goal to put the beachside team ahead, 1-0.
On crossing ends, Cavelossim should have levelled terms but Calangute keeper Jason D’Mello managed to tip the ball over the horizontal bar off a power-packed right footer from Darren. In the 54th minute, Calangute were unlucky as Bonny Niasso saw his strike hit the upright before going out for a goalkick with rival keeper completely out of position.
If not for a superb save by Cavelossim keeper Savio, Calangute’s Kouame Joseph’s free-kick from the 20 yards would have materialised into a goal. Koume was unlucky for the second time as he failed to connect his header off Joston Pereira’s corner entering the goal.
Calangute continued on their domination but luck was not on their side. Two chances went begging for them when Omkar darted inside the penalty box but shot wide with just the rival keeper at his mercy. Later, Blake sent a defence-splitting ball to Omkar but this time his shot missed the target narrowly. At the fag end of the match, Cavelossim squandered a golden chance to net their equaliser when their skipper tried his luck from the edge of the box but keeper Jason leapt high to save it.
