THE GOAN NETWORK
MAPUSA
Rowlin Borges scored two goals as Sporting Clube de Goa registered a 3-0 win against a 10 men Curtorim Gymkhana in a round 11 match of the Goa Professional League at Duler Stadium, here on Saturday. The Flaming Oranje led 2-0 at half time.
Rowlin scored in the 34th and 39th minutes before Ganesh Thakur got the third in the 53rd minute. Sporting started brightly and in the ninth minute, Rowlin made a good cross in front of the goal but Marcus Mascarenhas failed to connect the ball. Sporting missed another scoring opportunity in the 25th minute as Marcus again didn't intercept a timely ball provided by Rowlin. Sporting had to substitute their goalkeeper Kamaljit Singh who had carried an injury into the match and Fayaz Shaikh was brought in to guard the goal.
In the 34th minute Curtorim were awarded a penalty as their goalkeeper Muhamad Shaikh was booked by referee Chandrashekar Shirodkar for bringing down Ganesh Thakur in the danger zone. Rowlin converted the spot kick for the first goal. Five minutes later, Shaikh was booked for his second offence and sent off by the referee when he made a reckless tackle on Abhishek Rawat, while Sporting were awarded their second penalty. Rowlin stepped up again to score his second goal, 2-0.
During the injury time, Ganesh Thakur made a cross to Ndidi Chukwuma, who shot straight into the hands of the rival goalkeeper. Post resumption, the Flaming Oranje tried to make the maximum of the one-man advantage. Four minutes into the session, Rowlin took a hard shot from a distance which missed the goalpost by inches. In the 53rd minute, Ganesh Thakur collected a cross from Rowlin and sent home a right-footer to make it 3-0.
In the 72nd minute, a powerful shot by the substitute player James Fernandes hit the Curtorim crossbar. During the last 15 minutes, the Curtorim defence did not allow the Sporting forwards to have a clear view of the goal. In a rare attack by Curtorim in the 81st minute, Xavier Dias had a crack at goal but he could not get past Fayaz Shaikh under the Sporting bar. Two minutes later, Xavier again attempted to score but saw his shot saved again.
SCOREBOX
Sporting Clube de Goa 3 (Rowlin Borges 34 (P), 39 (P), Ganesh Thakur 53) beat Curtorim Gymkhana 0 Half-time: 2-0
MATCHBOX:
Sporting Curtorim
12 Shots on goal 3
10 Corners 2
7 Free kicks 5
5 Fouls 7
2 Yellow Cards 2
0 Red Cards 1
