The Goan Network
Panaji
Sporting Clube de Goa U-20s registered a 1“0 victory over St Cruz Club of Cavelossim U-20s in the GFA U-20 Taca Goa football league at Duler Stadium, Mapusa on Tuesday.
In a closely fought encounter which witnessed end to end football by both teams, the Flaming Oranje came out victorious courtesy a solo goal by super sub Perryson Fernandes (84’).
The first half witnessed a fairly balanced play between both sides. In the 15th minute Cavelossim won a free kick 20 yards away as Veegan Ferrao took a good shot which went straight into the hands of Sherwin Dacunha.
In the 21st minute, Sporting got into action when Daryl Costa took a powerful right footed shot, the Cavelossim defender managed to get a crucial touch which kept the danger off. In the 28th minute, Sporting’s Shawn Noronha sent in a promising ball to Snedden Rodrigues whose shot went wide of the nets. Sporting had their best chance of the half in the 44th minute when Shawn collected a loose ball and struck it well only to see the Cavelossim keeper Jeet Gupta pull out an equally good save. The score stayed 0“0 at half time.
In the second half, Cavelossim started off with some good pressure. In the 53rd minute, Cavelossim almost got one through when Joel Colaco of Sporting found himself making a mess of Mosies D’Sa free-kick, clearing it straight into his own nets but the woodwork saved the day for Sporting. After this, Sporting were back in action.
Coach Savio Vaz got in his hit man Akeraj Martins who linked up with his partner Harshad Naik and Daryl Costa to produce some breathtaking moves. In the 64th minute, Cavelossim’s Marc D’Cruz sighting the Sporting goalkeeper out of position struck a dipping shot. However, Sherwin made a fast recovery to make a full length dive backwards to punch the ball off, keeping Sporting in the game. Sporting responded strongly with some good counter attack which saw them come close to scoring twice.
In the 74th minute, Harshad made a fantastic cross from the left trying to locate Alston Camotio, the latter missed a header from a close range. Harshad once again was in the thick of things when he managed to find a charging Akeraj whose shot went inches wide from the post. Sporting finally broke the deadlock in the 84th minute when Daryl Costa found the super sub Perryson Fernandes in a thickly flooded box for the latter to take on two defenders before placing the ball past Jeet to put Sporting ahead. With this win, Sporting pipped Cavelossim to take the pole position with 10 points from 4 matches.
