MARGAO
St Anthony's Sports Club, Marna-Siolim edged Nerul Sports Club by a narrow 2-1 margin to move into the next round of the 23rd Vagator Soccer 2023 organised by Vagator Parish Youth Sports Club, at Vagator Parish Youth Sports Club Ground, on Friday.
In a fierce encounter in harsh weather conditions, St Anthony's had first sight of goal in the 9th minute but Dalesh Pednekar's shot was saved by Nerul goalkeeper Samesh Shirodkar. Nerul took the lead in the 25th minute when a cross from the left flank by Chaitan Dabholkar found Anand Madgaonkar, whose attempted shot was saved by the Nerul keeper but the rebound fell to Deepraj Sangelkar, who found the back of the net.
At crossing ends, St Anthony's went all out from the very start of the second half with Pushparaj Mandrekar sending two shots on target in the 35th and 43rd minutes but Samesh Shirodkar came to the rescue of Nerul SC. On the other hand, Chaitan Dabholkar of Nerul failed to double their lead when Siolim custodian Francis Fernandes made a fingertip save to put the ball over the crossbar.
Nerul goalkeeper Samesh Shirodkar had a busy outing but couldn't stand his ground when St Anthony's SC scored the equalizer as he failed to grab the ball off a cross by Kashiram Pomburpekar which Dalesh Pednekar tapped home. At the very end, Dalesh Pednekar had his brace when he headed in from another cross by Kashiram Poburpekar to find the winner for St Anthony's.
The man-of-the-match prize was given to Dalesh Pednekar of St Anthony's by Leon Fernandes.
