DULER
Goalkeeper Dylan D’Silva’s heroics in the penalty shootout helped Dempo Sports Club down Sporting Clube de Goa 4-2 in Goa Football Association’s Charity Match played at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, on Thursday.
After playing a goalless draw in the regulation time, Dylan -- the Golden Eagles' new signing -- was the hero in the tiebreaker as he saved the first two spot kicks to haul his team to victory. For Dempo, Suraj Hadkonkar, Ariston Costa, Edwin Viegas and Pedro Gonsalves were on target while the Flaming Oranje converted through Marcus Mascarenhas and Liston Cardozo. The young custodian kept his side in the game in the regulation time, denying Sporting Clube from a few clear goal scoring opportunities.
With the stadium opened up for the general public, the teams started the game at a slower pace than expected. After a midfield battle, SCG had the first attempt early in the game. On seeing the keeper out of position, Dattaraj Gaonkar tried his luck with a long-range effort which narrowly missed the side post.
At the other end, Dempo were forced to play long crosses in the SCG area and during one such move the Golden Eagles nearly capitalised but Edwin Viegas’ header sailed over the bar. But that wasn’t the only dangerous move in the Sporting box as Vieri Colaco did everything right from controlling Kirtikesh’s long ball to dribbling past two Sporting Clube defenders, but his goal-bound shot took a slight deflection of SCG’s Clive Miranda and went out for a corner. While Dempo SC failed to score on two occasions, their keeper Dylan showed great reflexes in the goal and denied Alton Vaz’s header and then blocked the rebound which came off his own defender.
Sporting Clube showed more urgency in the second half but they were poor in front of the goal. First Alton squandered a chance from a corner kick and then Llyod, who just had Dylan at his mercy shot straight at the goalkeeper. Those weren’t the only chances for the Flaming Oranje as Akeraj Martins and Marcus Mascarenhas also missed clear-cut goal scoring opportunities.
While Sporting failed to score, Dempo SC should have converted at the other end when Richard Cardozo was set up by a long ball from the midfield. However, with just the keeper in the box, his strike was brilliantly stopped by SCG keeper Ozen Silva.
In the tie-breaker, Dempo’s Dylan saved the first two spot kicks of Clive and Llyod Mascarenhas to guide his team towards the win. For Dempo, Suraj Hadkonkar, Ariston Costa, Edwin Viegas and Pedro Gonsalves were on target. Only Marcus and Liston Cardozo scored for the Flaming Oranje.
