MARGAO
Sporting Clube de Goa gave the home fans plenty to celebrate as they smothered Shillong Lajong FC 5-2 in their key I-League clash at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda on Sunday. The highlight of the match was a splendid brace by promising striker Summet Passi.
Sporting desperately needed a win to find some breathing space above the other five bottom-placed teams and they scored through Mehrajuddin Wadoo (2nd), Sumeet Passi (21st, 33rd), Subhasish Bose (65th) and Mahmoud Al Amna (89th) to take their tally to 18 points from 14 matches and move to fourth place in the table. Penn Orji scored a brace for Shillong Lajong, who remain on 15
points from 14 matches and are placed fifth in the league.
Sporting Clube made three changes, bringing in Ganesh Thakur, Sumeet Passi and Pratesh Shirodkarin place of Efemena Charles, Marcus Mascarenhas and Denson Devadas. They played with panache and made an early impact, rocking the rival citadel in the 2nd minute through Mehrajuddin Wadoo. Following a foul on the left by defender Nimdorjee Tamang on Sporting's Ganesh Thakur, Rowllin Borges took the free kick which Wadoo headed past the visiting goalkeeper Vishal Kaith.
The goal boosted the morale of the home team and they attacked with more vigour and increased the lead in the 21st minute. Pratesh Shirodkar floated the ball into the box from the left for Sumeet Passi, who leapt high and nodded the ball into the net. Goalkeeper Kaith was partly to be blamed for conceding as he came out of his position and missed the flight of the ball.
Lajong appeared too stunned to react and Sporting Clube's Man of the match award winner Pratesh Shirodkar and India international Rowllin Borges took full advantage of it to rule the midfield. The visitors struggled to threaten the home team's defence and suffered a major blow as their striker Uilliams Souza Silva got the marching orders from referee Santhosh Kumar in the 29th minute after he committed a serious foul on Sporting Clube's Syrian striker Manmoud Al Amana to get a second yellow card.
The home team took full advantage of the numerical figure and scored the third goal in the 33rd minute through Summet Passi. A swift move on the right saw Mahmoud Al Amna send a through pass to Ganesh Thakur who unleashed a shot from inside the box which goalkeeper Kaith fisted away. However, the rebound fell for Summet Passi, who made no mistake in finding the net to complete his brace.
Post resumption, Sporting Clube continued to enjoy the ball possession and scored two more goals to kill the contest. Rowlin Borges floated a free kick and defender Subhasish Bose found the net with a thump header, with the rival goalkeeper caught napping.
Just as Sporting Clube looked to be completely dominating the game, Penn Orji scored two smart goals to bring the visiting team back into the contest. However, Mahmoud Al Amna scored from a penalty to give Sporting Clube their biggest victory in the tournament. Boithang Haokip brought down Rowllin Borges inside the penalty box and the resultant spot kick was converted by Mahmoud Al Amna, sending the rival goalkeeper the wrong way. Earlier, Penn Orji reduced the margin after scoring from a difficult angle in the 77th minute and later scored again in the 86th minute from a 30-yard shot to beat rival keeper Arindam Bhattachraya.
