MARGAO
Hosts Cuncolim Union gave the home fans plenty to celebrate as they smothered St Sebastian Union Club, Benaulim 2-0 to enter the quarter-finals of South Goa McDowell's N0 1 Yaari Premiere Cup inter-village football tournament at Government Village School playgrounds, Cuncolim on Saturday. Cuncolim Union led 1-0 at the break. The highlight of the day was a brilliant brace by veteran striker Rosario Mithun Carvalho.
It was Cuncolim Union who started the game in full flow with Rosario Carvalho and Nilesh Velip breaking through early on in a flurry of attacks. However, Rosario Carvalho lived up to his goal-poacher tag and in the 19th minute veteran defender Krishna Shirodkar's well-executed free-kick was beautifully headed home by Rosario Carvalho in style giving no chance to the Benaulim goalkeeepr Sugatiesh Mandrekar.
Stung by that setback, St Sebastian raised visions of breaking down the Cuncolim defence. In fact, they came close to scoring when Leslie Fernandes was thwarted by rival defender from scoring with neat tackles. The second half saw the teams on an even keel with both having their moments under the sun. St Sebastian's Faisal Bepari had a glorious chance to get a footing into the match but failed to get past the rival defender Krishna Shirodkar. It turned into the eponymous Rosario Carvalho show when he unleashed a snap shot that deflected from rival defender Velson Afonso's leg and eluded the rival goalkeeper Sugatiesh Mandreakar in the 61st minute. Down 0-2, St Sebastian Union went all out and nearly scored but Leslie Fernandes fumbled at crucuial moments. However, Cuncolim Union could have scored more goals with numerous missed chances over non-existent rival rearguard. In the North encounter,Saligao SC prevailed over hosts Anjuna Gymkhana 3-2 via tiebreaker to enter quarterfinals. Anjuna started the game with an attacking intent and got an opportunity to surge ahead when they were awarded the spot-kick.The resultant spot-kick taken by Rohan Kamble sailed over the cross bar. Anjuna almost broke the deadlock in the 17th minute when Rama floated the flag-kick that dipped, however, Saligao goalkeeper came to his side's rescue by parrying away for an abortive flag-kick. Post resumption, both the teams showed urgency and Anjuna Gymkhana's Rohan Kamble's strike from outside the 18-yard box was denied by Saligao keeper Augustin D'mello. In the ensuing tie-breaker, Craig, Augustin and Sheik were at target for Saligao Sporting while Rohan and Aniket converted for Anjuna Gymkhana.
