the goan I network
DULER
Goa Police Sports Club cantered past Cuncolim Union Sports Club with a convincing 3-0 win in the Geno First Division League, organised by GFA, at Duler stadium, here on Thursday.
The winners got their goals through Tushar Dessai, Abdul Khan and Shaikh Mouzzan Saliya. After the win Goa Police have 15 points in their tally from 6 matches, while Cuncolim stay on 16 points from 8 matches.
The cops opened their account early in the match when their midfielder Abdul dribbled past two defenders and squared it to a well-positioned Tushar, who made no mistake to guide the ball into the goal, 1-0. Trailing by an early goal, Cuncolim Union went all out in search of the equaliser but the strikers failed to score from three open chances as Imamsab Guledgudde missed twice from close and Shubham Malvankar also missed an open sitter.
In the 20th minute, another scoring chance for Cuncolim went in vain when Necil Pinto failed to beat the onrushing Police keeper Niklesh Naik in a one-to-one situation. The Policemen should have extended their lead in the 37th minute, when Sachin Chopdekar was left with just keeper to beat but the striker shot wide.
On crossing ends, Cuncolim came with renewed ideas but Police custodian Niklesh made some superb saves to keep his side safe. Neceil Pinto and Somnath Patil had strikes at the goal from a distance but it didn’t trouble the Police keeper.
As the match progressed, Cuncolim were camped inside the rival territory but the last line of Police defence led by Punaji Kalangutkar, Swanand Naik, Balchandra Vernekar and Tushar Dessai did not bulge under pressure built by Cuncolim midfielders John Khati and Naved Almeida.
With just five minutes left for the end of the regulation time, Police doubled their lead when a powerful shot from Abdul deflected off Cuncolim defender Raju Padashi’s leg and the ball travelled into the unguarded goal, 2-0. In the added-on time, Goa Police hammered in their third goal when Mouzzan controlled a long ball from Abdul and easily cut past an advancing Cuncolim custodian Oswin Rodrigues before placing the ball into the far corner of the goal, 3-0.
Abdul Khan, who played a stellar role in the match, received the Geno Man of the match award at the hands of Angelo Albuquerque, GFA executive member.
