Panjim Footballers win

| FEBRUARY 28, 2018, 07:14 PM IST

the goan I network

DULER  

Panjim Footballers managed to squeeze past Football Club de Bardez by 3-2 margin in the 18th round match of the Goa Professional League, organised by Goa Football Association, at Duler Stadium here on Tuesday.  

From Tuesday’s win, Panjim extended their tally to 14 points from 14 matches, while Bardez have 15 points from 14 outings. Bardez coach Armando Colaco started with Shubham Rao Desai, Kirtikesh Gadekar and Gaurav Vaigankar after their defeat at the hands of Dempo SC in the last match, while Panjim coach Savio Vaz made just one change in his starting line-up by fielding Prasil Kankonkar after a draw against Corps of Signals.  

It was the Panjim side that almost drew the first blood early in the match when striker Akeraj Martins took a shot at the unguarded goal but Bardez defender Joliston Rebello cleared the ball off the goalline to keep his side’s slate clean. However three minutes later, Panjim opened their account when Israeli midfielder Fady Riad sent a stinging left-footer which was not cleanly collected by Bardez keeper David Chauhan, where Akeraj Martins was lurking nearby, and he tapped the ball into the goal, 1-0.  

Pink Brigade almost levelled terms soon. Shubham sent a low cross to Clinton Niasso in the box but the forward’s goal-bound effort hit the defender before the ball went out for a corner. The match was restricted to midfield for the rest of the quarter, where finally in the 43rd minute, Panjim further extended their lead. Mahesh Kumar found Fady in the box with a neat cross, who made no mistake as he scored with a superb strike to make it 2-0.  

On resumption of play, Panjim colts looked threatening for the third goal as Akeraj sent a through pass to Congo midfielder Alphonse Shako in the box but his strike hit the woodwork. In the 52nd minute, Bardez lads came with two fine attacks but Panjim custodian Gurpreet Singh brought two back-to-back saves as he first denied Clinton in a one-to-one situation, while he quickly dived to his left to push Jessel Carneiro’s powerful strike for a corner.  

These earlier misses did not dampen the spirit of the Bardez colts as they finally reduced the margin. Ronil Azavedo’s right-footer from the top of the box hit the side-post and entered the goal, 1-2. It did not take long for the Pink Brigade to level terms, where the goal came from fine combined effort. Lalbabu Matho sent a long ball to Jessel on the left flank who moved upfront and curled the ball to a well positioned Clinton in the box, who finished clinically, 2-2.  

In the 75th minute, Mahesh drew the curtains down for Pink Brigade as his strike crashed into the top corner of the goal, 3-2.

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