5-star Panjim Footballers hammer Guardian Angel in GPL

Ravish Narvekar

Nicklas Noronha and Maximo D'Costa scored the braces in Panjim's victory. Maximo was judged the Man of the Match for an influential play.

Panjim Footballers secured an overpowering 5-1 win over Guardian Angel Sports Club in the Goa Professional League match played at Duler Stadium on Sunday evening.

Nicklas Noronha opened the scoring for Panjim in the 26th minute. While Chandan Oraw cancelled Panjim's lead with a brilliant goal in the 43rd minute as both sides tied to a 1-1 draw at halftime. Maximo D'Costa put Panjim ahead in the 56th minute, while Dhiraj added another to tally within the next three minutes. Maximo once again found the net in the 64th minute, while Nicklas also completed his brace in the 76th minute to register a big margin victory for the Capital City side.

Angels coach Riston Rodrigues made numerous changes to his side which lost to FC Goa in the last match as Peter Carvalho, Clifton Fernandes, Oswin Rodrigues, Joel Bareto and Velon Rebello made it into the cut for the Curchorem side. Whereas, Mackenzie Figueiredo and Maximo D'Costa were the two changes in Panjim's starting XI.

Angels' James Fernandes should have done it better from the set piece when they were awarded a freekick just outside the box following Dhiraj Chouhan's tackle on Saivish Singh but the Angels' lad shot wide.

Three minutes later, Panjim's Doyal Alves was in the commanding position in the box but instead of finding unmarked Maximo D'Costa the forward tried to find the net from the acute angle where Angels Angels defender Chandan Oraw cleared the danger at the cost of a corner. Panjim had another opportunity within the next three minutes where Jonas Colaco's long cross was smartly set up for Nicklas Noronha by Doyal. But the forward could not keep his strike on target from outside the box.

After a few more probing attacks, Panjim finally managed to breach the Angels' defence in the 26th minute. A fine long pass by Dhiraj was nicely collected by Nicklas who covered some ground before clinically finishing it in the net to make it 1-0 for his side.

A few minutes later, Panjim's Jonas should have doubled the lead for his side when he was perfectly fed infront of the frame by Maresto Fernandes with an inch-perfect cross from the deep right flank but the lad headed wide.

At the other end, Angels came with a swift attack as James made a short pass to Peter Carvalho who in return set up Saivish with just a keeper to beat but the Angels forward shot wide from inside the box.

However, Chandan managed to level back for the Curchorem side in the 43rd minute. A fine corner by James was blasted into the goal by the Angels defender from point-blank range to make it all square just before the halftime whistle.

Panjim's Doyal had an opportunity to double the lead just after changing the ends when the Angels' defence failed to clear the loose ball where the forward was left with a just rival keeper to beat but custodian Oswin Rodrigues left his side to deny Panjim forward.

Another chance came to Doyal in the 55th minute when a short pass from Maximo set up the forward who darted in the box but once again failed to keep his chip shot on target from close.

However, it was a matter of a few more seconds as Panjim once again surged ahead through Maximo. Jonas came with a perfect cross to Nicklas who headed it to Doyal. The forward this time made no mistake to slot the ball home from inside the 6-yard box to make it 2-1 for the Capital City side.

Peped-up by a goal, Panjim added another to their tally just a minute before the hour mark as Angles' defence line failed to clear Nicklas' corner where unmarked Dhiraj wasted no time to blast the ball in the goal making it 3-1.

Nicklas who was influential in Panjim's last two goals, had an opportunity to complete his brace in the 63rd minute when substitute Johnson Horta sent a cross to the midfielder infront of the goal but the lad failed to connect from inside the 6-yard box.

Though it was a silly miss from point-blank range, Maximo made it 4-1 for the Capital City side in the very next minute. Angels custodian Oswin came with a double save to deny Maximo and Doyal but the rival keeper failed to clear the danger completely where the loose ball once again reached the forward. Maximo this time slotted the ball in the empty net to complete his brace.

Nicklas added more misery to Angles in the 76th minute as their substitute Johnson made a swift run on the wing and tried his luck from inside the box only to see it denied by the side post. However, unmarked Nicklas found the net from the rebound to make it 5-1.