PANAJI
Sporting Clube de Goa continued their unbeaten season in the Goa Football Association Selvel Goa Professional League after defeating Churchill Brothers FC 2-0 at Duler Stadium, Mapusa.
Sporting scored through Philip Odogwu (70’) and Allen Fernandes (87’) own goal to secure full points.
There were three changes on either side. Churchill Brothers had Rakesh Das, Myron Mendes and Yagya Kapoor in their starting XI while coach Savio Vaz fielded Philip giving the Nigerian his first start this season. Assumption Soares returned from injury while Dattaraj Gaonkar was the other change.
Churchill Brothers made a positive start and made the first move in the second minute when Jouston Barbosa played Mauvin Borges on the left and the experienced midfielder’s shot missed the target.
The Red Machines enjoyed better exchanges in the opening minutes displaying a better football and outplayed their opponents. They nearly took the lead in the 20th minute when Rakesh Das ran down the left flank and fired a powerful shot from a tight angle. However, his attempt had an equal answer from Sporting custodian Ozen Silva, who got a strong hand to the shot to push it for a corner. Ozen came with another save to deny Myron’s goal-bound looping header.
Sporting had a rare opportunity in the 25th minute when Rohit Totad’s first touch for a long ball from midfield helped him get past Asif and almost beat the onrushing keeper when he squared the ball in the box, but there was no Flaming Oranje player to put the ball at the back of the net.
Sporting had another chance to take the lead from a set piece soon after the water break. Girish Naik’s freekick which was cleared by the Churchill defender fell to Kunal, whose shot was blocked by the keeper and the rebound fell to Rohit. However the U20 couldn’t keep his composure as his shot saw the side netting.
Churchill Brothers missed a chance to take the lead soon after restart as Ginminthang Hangsing dribbled past a couple of Flaming Oranje players and played a cut back pass to Jouston Barbosa, whose goal-bound shot was blocked by Myron Fernandes.
Sporting finally scored in the 70th minute. Myron sent in another of his long ball in the area which was met by a diving Marcus, whose header was blocked by keeper Debnath however the ball rolled to Philip, who scored with a simple tap in. Sporting Clube doubled the lead late in the game through an own goal. Marcus saw his effort saved by the keeper but only for the ball to deflect off Allen and enter the goal.
