MARGAO
Dempo Sports Club and Sports Authority of India, Goa played a goalless draw in their Under-18 I-League match at Rosary Ground, Navelim on Friday.
Dempo started positively from the beginning with striker and captain Kapil Hoble on full steam as SAI hardly seemed attacking with serious moves and intent. Kapil created problems upfront as he combined well with Arron D'Silva. The striker trapped the ball well after receiving the ball from Jayson Lucas but the former was thwarted by a rival defender.
On the other hand, SAI took time to settle down and were unlucky when midfielder Vignesh's freekick hit the crossbar. After that scare, Dempo went into the groove and nearly broke the deadlock but Kapil failed to beat the rival goalkeeper Ravi Kumar in a one-to-one situation after Jayson Lucas' freekick. In the 20 minute, Dempo went close when midfielder Jayson Lucas nearly rocked the rival citadel with a well executed freekick but the ball went out after hitting the crossbar. There was a little threat from SAI, while Dempo called shots at the other end.
Dempo goalkeeper Ozen Silva also had a good day in the office, effecting several saves to deny SAI the elusive goal. Ozen fisted away Vignesh's flag kick and later thwarted Sudarshan by blocking the latter's try in the 77th minute. SAI were in full cry but inept shooting by their forwards from handshaking distance prevented them notching up their maiden win.
Both teams didn’t show a lot of adventure in the dying minutes of the game as they had to settle for a share of spoils. Despite the lack of goals, the game wasn’t short on intensity and was there to be won, but neither team did enough in the end to grab the three points.
