THE GOAN | NETWORK
PANAJI
Sporting Clube de Goa were held to their second consecutive draw in the Goa Pro League, this time by Calangute Association at Duler Stadium on Tuesday. With this goalless draw Sporting and Calangute stay put at 5th and 6th position respectively sharing 5 points each.
The initial quarter of the first half saw Calangute Association press hard to get the early goal. They maintained early pressure on Sporting’s back four who showed true character to keep the danger off their nets. In the 3rd minute, Calangute Association had their first good look at Sporting goal when a Kouame Joseph corner found Valerio Rodrigues at the right spot whose powerful header was saved by the woodwork.
In the 21st minute, Sporting got a good opportunity when Quan Gomes from the far corner picked out Loveday Enyinnaya within a populated box, the skipper headed the ball straight to Glan Martins for powerful header, the woodwork returned the favour this time denying the Flaming Oranje a certain goal. The best opportunity for Sporting came in the 37th minute when Quan got hold of a loose ball in the mid and struck it clinically but missed it by inches. It stayed goalless at the end of first half.
In the second half, it was Sporting’s turn to intensify things, Gaffer Mateus Costa introduced Marcus Mascarenhas and Mauvin Borges were hoping to salvage something from their pace. Quan was once again in the thick of action when he received a good ball from Mauvin in the right to send in a curling shot which missed the nets by a whisker. In the 65th minute, Calangute’s Agnelo Colaco set up Pedro Gonsalves with a brilliant cross but the latter’s strike went screaming past the Sporting nets. Sporting had their best moment of the match in the 79th minute when Marcus set Victorino with a good ball right in front of the goal however the Flaming Oranje striker’s full length dive fell inches short of connecting the ball.
In the final quarter, Sporting threw everything in their arsenal trying to get a result here but couldn’t make a difference before the final whistle as the match ended goalless.
