the goan I network
DULER
A 10-man St Savio’s Sports Club managed to edge past Goa Police Sports Club 2-1 in the inaugural match of the 15th Edition of Goa Police Football Cup organised by Goa Police Sports Cell, at Duler stadium, here on Saturday.
In the very 4th minute, St Savio’s keeper Augustine D’Mello was sent off by referee Prasad Surlekar for collecting the ball outside the penalty box. Playing with a man down, the Calangute side surged ahead in the 24th minute where a scorching right footer from Ashley Lobo crashed into the back of the nylons, 1-0. A minute before the breather, Goa Police netted their equalizer, where Calangute keeper missed in clearing the ball to find Hemant Kholkar guide the ball into the goal, 1-1. On crossing over in the 54th minute, St Savio’s were awarded a penalty after Police defender Balchandra Vernekar was caught in the act of handling the ball. Pedro Gonsalves stepped forward and
scored, 2-1.
Down by a goal, the Police colts time and again attacked the rival citadel but yet failed to find the nets. In the 65th minute, a scorching 30-yard shot from Milind Shinde was parried away by the Calangute keeper and the ball travelled to an unmarked Mouzan Sheikh, whose header travelled over the post.
At the other end, St Savio’s almost made it 3-1 but keeper Nikhil Naik came with a diving collection to collect Ashley Lobo’s fierce shot from outside the penalty box. A minute before the final whistle, Prayjot Parsekar had just the Police keeper to beat but shot tamely into the keeper’s gloves. Hero of the match was awarded to Siddharth Shirodkar of St Savio’s SC Calangute.
