MARGAO
Goa produced a clinic for the football fans at the Arena Stadia, Ahmedabad on Friday with a scintillating 8-1 win over hosts Gujarat in West Zone qualifiers to advance to the final round of Senior National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy.
Captain and prolific striker Victorino Fernandes again produced the goods as he scored a second hat-trick for Armando Colaco's side. Joaquim Abranches (brace), Bevan D'Mello, Marcus Mascarenhas and Shallum Pires also scored in the big win that helped Goa progress with a maximum six points from their two matches.
Right from the start, Goa started to attack and build pressure on the hosts. Victorino scored the first goal for the Goans off a Jessel Carneiro assist. Goa doubled the lead through Marcus Mascarenhas who found the net after Jessel turned the provider again as Colaco's men enjoyed a good spell of tiki-taka football.
Bevan D'Mello made it 3-0 for Goa even as their defence did well to nip all the possible dangers in the bud. Victorino then scored two goals to complete his hat-trick. His third was an exact replica of his first strike. Goa completely dominated the second half and Joaquim Abranches fired a quick brace before Shallum Pires scored the eighth at the fag end.
A beaming Victorino said his team was ready for the next battle to regain the trophy. "The coach told us to just keep going, doing the same things because we were on top and we kept believing," Victorino said. "We have the quality, so we knew we could do it right from the beginning of the competition," he added.
