MARGAO
Sporting Clube de Goa humbled Vasco Sports Club 3-0 before they were crowned the Goa Pro League champions after their concluding league clash at Panchayat ground, Raia on Thursday. The Flaming Oranje led 1-0 at the breather.
Sporting Clube finished their campaign with 39 points from 18 matches to seal the title. Vasco Sports Club on the other hand finished on 21 points from same number of encounters. This was their fifth loss.
On Thursday, Sporting Clube used the breadth of the pitch well with their strikers finding plenty of space. Despite coach Mathew D'Costa not fielding Nigerian goal machine Odafe Okolie, their strikers Marcus Mascarenahs and Akeeraj Martins linked up well. In the midfield, veteran Joseph Pereira and Quan Gomes successfully blocked the opposition attacks from putting the pressure.
The Flaming Oranje could have forged ahead early in the game but their striker shot wide from handshaking distance. Sporting Clube had to wait till the half-hour mark to go into the lead. In the 33rd minute, a rival defender miscued his shot and the ball fell to Josseph Pereira who relayed it to striker Marcus Mascarenhas, who did the rest by placing the ball to the far corner of the net.
Stung by that setback, Vasco came up with sporadic attacks and had a chance to neutralize the lead but substitute striker Agnelo D'Souza blasted wide from close range. Thereafter the play was restricted to midfield as both the teams adopted safety-first approach.
The Flaming Oranje made it 2-0 in the 55th minute. Substitute James Fernandes sent in a ball from the left to Marcus Mascarenhas who beat the rival goalkeeper Jerson Pereira with a snap shot. Earlier, Vasco nearly equalized when Nigerain striker Chinedu Emanuel sped past the rival reargaurd and unleashed a shot which hit the rival defender's hand but referee Rosario Fernandes failed to spot the infringement. Even the rebound was well thwarted by the Flaming Oranje goalkeeper Kamaljit Singh.
Two goals up, Sporting Clube did not drop their guard and continued to raid Vasco. The port town side had a golden opportunity to reduce the deficit but diminutive striker Agnelo D'Souza shot wide from close range. In the 62nd minute, substitute James Fernandes extended the lead for Sporting Clube when he scored after snatching the ball from rival defender Varney Kallan. In the dying minutes of the game, Vasco had a spell of good possession, but they could never trouble the Flaming Oranje backline.
SCOREBOX
SPORTING CLUBE DE GOA 3 (Marcus Mascarenhas 33, 55, James Fernandes 62) beat VASCO SPORTS CLUB 0
Sporting Clube finished their campaign with 39 points from 18 matches to seal the title. Marcus Mascarenhas scored a brace while substitute James Fernandes also scored in a 3-0 win at Panchayat ground, Raia on Thursday
