PANAJI
Sesa Football Academy earned a hard-fought 2-1 win over Calangute Association in their Goa Professional League clash at Duler Stadium on Thursday. Goals from Venito Costa and Cain Fernandes proved decisive while Jovito Fernandes kept Calangute in the contest with a first-half equaliser.
Sesa FA opened the scoring in the 19th minute when captain Aman Rajbhar swung in a well-directed corner that found defender Venito Costa who rose highest and headed home from close range. Calangute reacted immediately, testing goalkeeper Mahadev Gawade in the 22nd minute with a powerful attempt that he pushed away with a sharp reflex save.
Calangute continued to apply pressure and created another clear chance in the 25th minute but failed to hit the target. Their breakthrough finally arrived in the 38th minute when Gawade misread a long ball and stepped too far off his line leaving Jovito Fernandes with a simple finish into an empty goal to level the score.
Just before halftime, frustrations boiled over as Russell Vaz was booked for a late tackle on Sheldon Pereira. The teams entered the break locked at 1-1.
Calangute nearly took the lead moments into the second half, but Gawade reacted quickly to collect the ball inside a crowded box. In the 64th minute Calangute were inches away once more when Jovito’s strike crashed off the upright and stayed out.
Sesa punished the miss ten minutes later. A loose ball inside the six-yard area fell kindly to Cain Fernandes, who smashed home from point-blank range to restore Sesa’s advantage at 2-1.
Calangute pushed hard in the closing minutes, with Shaviz Pathan forcing another alert stop from Gawade but the Sesa goalkeeper remained solid throughout. In the 90th minute Melvin Lobo picked up a yellow card for a reckless challenge on Saimesh Gaonkar marking the final major incident of the match.
