PANAJI
Sporting Clube de Goa complete a double over Dempo SC in the GFA Pro League with a 2-0 win at Duler Stadium, Mapusa on Sunday.
Marcus Mascarenhas (8’) and Avrhisto Fernandes (37’) added a goal each in the first half to fire the Flaming Oranje to a comfortable win. With this win Sporting Clube pick 36 points from 17 matches and move to second in the league table, displacing Dempo SC who are on 35 points from same number of matches.
Sporting Clube coach Mateus Costa made three changes to the side that drew against Calangute Association mid week. Skipper Loveday Enyinnaya, Marcus Mascarenhas and Mauvin Borges made the cut as Costa adopted a 4-2-3-1 formation with Francis Dadzie leading the attack.
Sporting Clube made an early foray into the Dempo half, winning a free-kick in the third minute at the edge of the box. Cajetan Fernandes delivered a good ball but it was easily intercepted by the Dempo goalkeeper. Sporting Clube soon had the lead as Marcus got hold of a loose ball from the Dempo defence and made a blistering run into the box, placing the ball past Tyson Caiado to give the Flaming Oranje a dream start.
Sporting Clube should have doubled the lead in the 16th minute when Daryl Costa intercepted a Marcus cross at the edge of the box to get a clean strike which went inches above the bar. Dempo’s best move came in the 23rd minute when defender Mohammed Ali started a good move on the right to find Felix Chidi in the Sporting Clube box, but the latter’s cheeky back heel failed to find a charging Adil Khan.
Sporting Clube got their second goal in a replay style of the previous move but this time Marcus singled out Avrhisto Fernandes, who took a brilliant strike to make it 2-0 for Sporting Clube. The score stayed 2-0 at the break.
The second half lacked much action as Sporting Clube shut shop, giving very little room for Dempo forwards to operate. Felix Chidi and company were not allowed a single convincing shot on goal by the Sporting Clube back four. In the 48th minute, Dadzie almost added the third one for Sporting when he got hold of a good ball from Cajetan at the corner but the final strike went inches away from the post.
At the hour mark Dempo won a free-kick about 25 yards away; Joaquim Abranches managed to get a good strike but it went straight to Sporting Clube goalie Ravi Kumar, who wasn’t letting that one in. In the 67th minute, Adil Khan got hold of a loose ball in the middle and launched a powerful strike but a vigilant Ravi made a full-stretch dive to keep the ball out.
