PANAJI
Dempo Sports Club scored a thrilling 5-4 win over Velsao Sports and Cultural Club in the Goa Professional League at Duler Stadium, Mapusa on Saturday.
Desmon Pereira scored a brace for Dempo while Laximanrao, Kirtikesh Gadekar and Beneston Barreto were the other scorers for the Golden Eagles. They scored all their five goals in the first half. Velsao netted through a Meuton Fernandes brace and goals from Climax and K Vinoth as they entirely dictated the second half.
Dempo attacked from the word go and broke the deadlock in the first minute through Desmon, who was assisted by Laximanrao Rane. They continued to dominate and doubled the lead in the 7th minute through Laximanrao, who guided in a Klusner Pereira pass. At the other end, Velsao managed to pull a goal back when Imran Khan's initial shot was blocked by Dempo custodian Dylan Da Silva and the ball fell to Climax Fernandes, who made no mistake in finding the goal.
It was evident the match would witness more goals and Dempo struck in the 10th minute as Desmon once again scored with a simple shot, getting to the end of a Klusner cross from the left. With just 10 minutes on the clock, the score was already 3-1 in favour of Dempo.
Dempo continued to dominate the game and then scored their fourth through Kirtikesh Gadekar, who scored with a left-footed strike after being assisted by Beneston from the right. The fifth for Dempo came in the added-on time of the first half when Suraj Hadonkar sent in a defence-splitting pass to Beneston, who kept his composure in front of an onrushing keeper and rolled the ball into the net, 5-1.
In the second half, Velsao were a totally transformed side and their in-form striker Meuton struck once again for his fifth goal of the season in the 52nd minute. Minutes later, second-half substitute K Vinoth pulled another goal back for Velsao. Once the score read 3-5, Dempo played more cautiously. They were forced to defend with Velsao adding more men to their attack and the team from South Goa did manage to strike late once again. The goal came from a set piece where Meuton scored from inside the box, after being left unmarked to make it 4-5.
