DULER
Two second half goals were sufficient for Dempo Sports Club to register a well deserved 2-0 win over Calangute Association in the 18th round match of Goa Professional League, organised by Goa Football Association, at Duler Stadium, here on Wednesday.
With the win, Dempo stayed in the 2nd position with 34 points from 15 outings, while Calangute remain static on 18 points from 15 matches.
Calangute coach Alex Alvares started with Joston Pereira, Blake Haldankar, goalkeeper Sumit Das and U-20 striker Omkar Satelkar. Alvares’ side had lost to Sporting Clube de Goa in their last league match. Dempo, on the other hand, also had a few changes to their side which defeated FC Bardez in the last match as coach Samir Naik started with Velito Cruz, Nickson Castanha and Naveen Mendes.
Though Dempo started the match in attacking mode, none of their moves materialised into goals. In the 25th minute, Calangute’s striker Omkar was just left with the keeper to beat but the U-20 player shot wide from point-blank range.
Just a minute earlier, Dempo were awarded a free kick from 40 yards out, which was excellently executed by Velito Cruz but Calangute keeper Sumit, who was making his debut, made an excellent save and the teams marched out for the lemon break with the scoresheet blank.
After much probing by the Golden Eagles, they opened their account finally in the 60th minute. Beevan D’Mello chested the ball from a Joaquim Abranches lob and sent it to a well positioned Kapil Hoble, who drilled a powerful right-footer into the far corner of the goal past keeper Sumit Das, 1-0.
Minutes later, Dempo had a chance to double their lead when Shallum Pires found substitute Joaquim Abranches with a head pass but the forward saw his powerful shot miss the target by a whisker. Another chance went begging for the Golden Eagles as Beevan D’Mello shot in keeper Sumit’s hands, off Suraj Hadkonkar’s fine cross from the right. However, in the 82nd minute, Beevan made no mistake to shoot past Sumit from top of the box to make it 2-0.
Calangute attacks came very late in the match. Myron Fernandes’ shot from the edge of the box was blocked by keeper Agnelo Gomes, who minutes later once again blocked a fierce strike from an acute angle by Josley Dias.
PLAYING TODAY
Sporting Clube de Goa vs Guardian Angel SC, Duler Stadium, 4 pm
