the goan I network
PANAJI
Sesa FA scored a hard-fought 4-2 win over St Savio SC-Calangute in the Goa Sevens Premier League (GSPL) at Ambelim Sports Complex, on Wednesday. Cyrus Noronha scored a brace for Sesa while Ryan Fernandes and Caitaino Rodrigues scored a goal each.
The Sesa Academy side got the game underway with just the attacking intent in their mind. In the 6th minute, skipper Cyrus crossed the ball inside the box, but found his perfect shot blocked by Jerose Oliveira. Sesa finally took the lead in the 7th minute as Cyrus netted the shot after receiving a pass form Ryan Fernandes.
The St Savio side came close to levelling the terms in the next minute as Dhiraj Chauhan’s back-flick was well collected by the Sesa custodian Roanal Gaunkar. At the other end, Sesa could have doubled their lead but Rovan Pereira wanted to go all alone inside the box, despite having an unmarked Cyrus in good position.
The Sesa side made it 2-0 in the 18th minute off a neat free-kick taken by Ryan Fernandes that was out of reach of the Calangute goalkeeper. The Calangute side could have reduced the margin just before half time but Shashank Naik failed to connect onto the pass.
St Savio upon resumption of the second half, finally managed to pull one goal down after a couple of missed attempts through Pedro Gonsalves’ shot into the top corner.
The second half witnessed a faster pace to the game with both teams fighting for the ball. Sesa could have added a third goal but Ashley Cardozo found his long shot hit the bar. Sanket Jotkar was fast in his approach but he missed to convert on two attempts for St Savio. First shooting wide and next, he hit the post. With fast-paced attacking football on show in the second half, both sides had their share of chances but failed to convert at either ends.
St Savio finally made it 2-2 as they earned a penalty after Rovan Pereira brought down Pedro Gonsalves and the latter made no mistake to score from the spot.
When a tie-breaker seemed likely, Sesa stepped up their attack and netted two quick goals. First Namresh Kundikar scored an own goal giving Sesa the lead, before Cyrus came up with another goal that gave the Academy side a tough 4-2 win over St Savio.
