The Goan Network
Panaji
Sporting Clube de Goa beat Portais SC 2-0 in a GFA U-16 league match at Don Bosco Grounds, Panaji on Friday. Dattaraj Gaonkar (30') and Aman Govekar (40') scored for Sporting.
The Young Oranje kicked off the proceedings early in the first half with a good move between Alister Anthony and Aman Govekar on the left. In the 20th minute, Portias should have taken the lead when their striker Maven made a good run to beat the Sporting keeper. However, the forward couldn't keep the ball under control to lend the finishing touch. Portias lads displayed some swift one-touch moves to keep the Sporting defence on their toes.
The Sporting forwards created a gazillion chances up front but couldn't finish the same. Finally, at the half hour mark Alister Costa displayed some smart game sense to open up space for a inward charging Dattaraj and fed him a fantastic ball. The Sporting skipper took a powerful shot on half volley to beat a resilient Portias keeper who otherwise had a good day between the sticks. Towards the closing stages of first half, Sporting forward Aman beat the off-side trap to get hold of a good ball in the midfield and dribble past two defenders to place it perfectly past the Portais keeper making it 2-0 in favour of Sporting at the break. Crossing over Sporting tried hard to make some difference to the scoreboard but Portais players had other plans. Alister Anthony, Aman Govekar and Richard Cardoz kept knocking the doors of Portais keeper but failed to make the chances count. At the other end, Sporting's defence proved too strong for the Portais players who couldn't get past the Oranje back four. With this win, Sporting lads cling on to the top spot with 15 points from five matches played.
