MARGAO
Favourites Navelim Sporting had to dig deep to down a fighting Candolim Sports Club 4-2 in the tiebreaker to enter the finals of the Jaju Memorial Trophy football tournament organised by Young Strikers Benaulim at St John Baptist ground, Dando Benaulim on Wednesday.
Mercurial goalkeeper Jeet Gupta was the hero once again for Navelim as he made a couple of outstanding saves late in the regulation time before blocking two spot kicks in the penalty shootout.
Navlim were sluggish in the beginning and did not create a single attack on the rival goal. Candolim were content in defending but striker Bhavesh Candolkar ballooned high over the bar, which easily was the best chance in the first session.
After the restart, Navelim improved with Clinton Niasso and Joyson Couthinho combining to set up Prestley Gomes in the 43rd minute but the striker shot wide. Candoilim reacted with striker Anson D' Sousa receiving a pass from Aniket Naik to unleash a right-footer but rival goalkeeper Jeet got a hand to the ball which struck the post and went out for a corner. For the last quarter, Candolim constantly attacked the Navelim goal but Jeet was in his element. He blocked Rajat Chopdekar's close-range shot in the 61st minute and a minute later, denied Chaitan Dhabholkar.
In the pulsating tiebreaker, Navelim were successful through Velinton Silva, Rovan Periera, Nash Pereira and Terrence Miranda but Clinton Niasso shot wide. For Candolim, only Aniket Naik and Aman Govekar scored while Akash Bannaulikar shot over the bar while the efforts of Saiesh Bagkar and Sanket Jotkar were superbly saved by Jeet to take Navelim through to the finals.
