MARGAO
Sesa Football Academy came from behind to hold United Club of Telaulim to a 1-1 draw in the Geno GFA First Division League here at SAG Artificial Turf ground, on Monday. Sesa were trailing by a goal at half time.
Telaulim held an upper-hand in the opening session and troubled the rival defence with well-orchestrated raids. At the other end, Sesa FA slowly took over the reins and fired couple of sorties against the rival citadel.
Sesa had two clear scoring chances when Ryan Fernandes found Kunal Salgaocar inside the rival penalty box but the last-named shot wide much to the disbelief of the Sesa FA bench. Couple of minutes later, they had another chance but midfielder Ashley Cardozo ballooned over from close range. Telaulim relied on the counter-attacks through quick wing play and had couple of scoring opportunities but their forwards misfired from close range.
Telaulim’s breakthrough came at the stroke of lemon break when left-midfielder Raju Chalwadi laid a beautiful cross into the path of Engelbert Azaredo, who in turn relayed it to promising striker Joel Dias. The last-named without wasting any time, slotted the ball past rival goalkeeper Ronal Gaunkar.
Post-resumption, Sesa put up a vastly improved display and their forwards showed urgency, looking to raid their rival’s citadel. Telaulim caved in, in the 56th minute when midfielder Lionel Rodrigues’ well-executed free-kick eluded the defensive wall and goalkeeper Maclas Moraes hands down.The equaliser motivated Sesa FA to mount tremendous pressure on the rival goal. They came close to regaining the lead when defender Caetano Fernandes’ power-packed shot missed the mark narrowly off a flag-kick.
While Sesa attack-line pressurised the Telaulim defence, their midfield cancelled out the Telaulim side’s attacks. However, Telaulim’s midfielder Valmiky Miranda saw one of his free-kicks fly over the crossbar. With time running out, Sesa made a last-ditch effort but Vishnu Gosavi’s goal-bound cross went underutilised as no team-mate was at the right place to score off the opportunity. The full time scoreline read 1-1 and it enabled Sesa to take their tally to 5 points from 4 matches. Telaulim now have 7 points from 6 matches.
