MAPUSA
Vasco Sports Club U-20 eased past Panjim Footballers U-20 by a 3-1 margin in the GFA's U-20 TACA GOA League match, organised by Goa Football Association, played at Duler Stadium, here on Wednesday.
With this win, Vasco kept their hope alive to finish second behind champions Sporting Clube de Goa as they now have 10 points from six outings, while Panjim has six points from seven matches.
Vasco coach Eban Mesquita started with four of their Goa Professional League players in their ranks as skipper Schuber Pereira, Flan Gomes, Somnath Patil and Lenny Fernandes started for the
Port Towners.
On the other hand, Panjim boss Micheal Dias started with their regular line up making four changes bringing in Abhyuday Sabharwal, Kashiram Pompurphekar, Anselm D'Souza and Casel De Souza in the starting XI.
Vasco had suffered a defeat in the last match against Salgaocar by two goals, while Panjim had bagged all three points from the last match against FC Bardez as they failed to report to the venue.
Vasco should have opened their account in the very 3rd minutes when their winger Flan Gomes found Traus Barreto with a brilliant long ball in the box but the latter's flick shot was pushed for a corner by Panjim keeper Karol Soares.
The next few minutes witnessed an end-to-end play. However, it was Vasco who was the dominant side with a better attacking index.
Vasco finally opened their tally in the 19th minutes when Flan beat the Panjim goal-keeper Karol with a clinical placement from inside the box after receiving an inch-perfect lofted pass from Klusner Pereira.
Panjim tried to find the equaliser but most of their attacks died in the final-third, and some of the aimless shooting from Casel De Souza and Abhyuday restricted them from finding the leveller.
At the other end, Flan doubled Vasco's lead when he got hold of a loose ball in the box and banged into the goal after his teammate Jesloy Moniz was brilliantly blocked by Panjim keeper Karol in a one- on-one situation in the 38th minutes.
It was just five minutes into the second half when Aman Govekar reduced Vasco's lead with a powerful right-footer which entered the top right corner making it 1-2 for the capital city side.
However, the very next minute, Vasco once again restored their two goals lead when Klusner set up Somanath with just the keeper to beat and the midfielder made no mistake to beat with a neat placement.
In the 66th minute, confusion between Vasco defenders and keeper Kartik Dessai saw Aman getting hold of the loose ball in the box but the striker shot wide from close. A minute later, Panjim's substitute had a chance to get Panjim back in the game but Richard Cardoz shot wide from the top of the box.
Panjim had yet another chance in the the 78th minute when when Dattaraj Gaonkar found Anselm with a through pass in the box but Vasco keeper Kartik came off his line to deny the winger in a
one-on-one.
