PANAJI
Sporting Clube de Goa U-21s squeezed past DSK Shivajians U-21 3-2 in their Bandodkar Gold Cup Group B match at Duler stadium, in Mapusa on Thursday. With the win Sporting made it to the semi-finals with six points, to join Dempo SC from the group.
The teams were locked in a 1-1 draw at the breather with Jesse Ralte (40th min) giving DSK the lead, while Harshad Naik (45th min) equalized for Sporting. In the 15th minute, DSK’s Prasanth K had a very good attempt from the left flank which sailed just over the crossbar. Couple of minutes later Prasanth sent a perfect cross to a well positioned Nikhil Mali whose header was pouched by the Sporting keeper Sherwin Da Cunha.
Sporting got their act together and had close attempts at the rival goal through striker Ndidi
Chukwuma, Harshad Naik and Schubert D’Costa but failed to get a goal. In the 30th minute, another chance went a begging for Sporting as Harshad Naik failed to keep his header on target off a Ndidi cross. DSK's Jesse Ralte then got hold of the ball near the edge of the box to send a blistering shot which missed the target narrowly. However, in the 40th minute, Jesse Ralte controlled a pass from K Lalthathanga and placed the ball past an onrushing Sporting keeper Sherwin, 1-0.
Sporting levelled the terms just a minute before the breather, when Jesmon Soares sent an intelligent pass to an overlapping Harshad Naik, who slammed it into the goal, 1-1. In the very first minute on crossing over, Sporting’s Avrhishto Fernandes was brought down inside the penalty box by Rohit Kumar prompting referee Prasad Surlekar to point to the dreaded spot. However Jesmon Soares shot out from the penalty spot. At the other end, in the 59th minute, DSK’s Rohit Kumar leapt high above the sporting defenders to head the ball into the goal off a cross from Vanlalremkima, 2-1.
In the 68th minute, Sporting were awarded another penalty after Vanlalremkima made a reckless tackle on Sporting’s Sarineo Fernandes. This time, Ndidi Chukwuma made no mistake in converting from the spot and equalise, 2-2.
Hardly had the DSK players come to terms with conceding the goal, they fell behind as a fine cross by Sarineo Fernandes in the very next minute found Harshad Naik left unmarked and the latter connected sent a powerful right-footer to make it 3-2. In the 80th minute, Sporting’s Clive Miranda and DSkK’s Lalliansanga were sent off for engaging in an altercation. The referee also sent Sporting manager Anthony Francis Vaz to the stands for using abusive language. DSK almost equalized in the 85th minute when Rohit Kumar saw his header rebound off the top corner of the goal.Two minutes later, a frustrated Rohit Kumar made a dangerous tackle on Sporting’s Avrhisto Fernandes, for which he was sent off by the referee.
Harshad Naik of Sporting Clube was given the Man of the match award of Rs 5,000 by Gajanand Kerkar, GFA executive member.
