MARGAO: The Red Chillies maintained their winning start to the inaugural GVFC Veterans Football League with a convincing 2-0 victory over Blue Atlantic at The Kings School ground on Saturday.
Having edged past Yellow Daffodils 2-1 in their opening fixture at St Cruz last week, the Red Chillies made it two wins from two to move to the top of the four-team standings with six points.
The match unfolded in contrasting phases. The Red Chillies controlled proceedings in the opening 20-minute session but were unable to make their dominance count. Blue Atlantic responded strongly in the second session and came close to breaking the deadlock on at least two occasions, only to be denied by alert goalkeeper Manoj Kesarkar, whose timely saves kept the scores level.
The breakthrough finally arrived in the third and final session, with the industrious Menino Miranda opening the scoring after sustained pressure from the Red Chillies. Hipolito Dias then sealed the victory with a clinical finish from a tight angle on the left flank, beating Blue Atlantic goalkeeper Hanuman Pednekar to put the result beyond doubt.
Dias was named the Man of the Match for his decisive contribution.
