Calangute Association outclass Velsao SCC in GPL

Ravish Narvekar

The Mormugao side suffered their third straight defeat of the season.

Calangute Association hammered Velsao Sports and Cultural Club by an easy 4-1 margin to continue their unbeaten run in the Goa Professional League played at Duler stadium on Wednesday evening.

Velsao coach Eban Mesquita made four changes to his side following a big margin 5-1 defeat at the hands of Churchill Brothers FC in the last match as Ronaldo Pereira and Climax Fernandes made the comeback, while K Vinoth and Sunny Kumar made the start for the Mormugao based club. Meanwhile, Nitish Hazra and Jovito Fernandes were the two changes for the Calangute side which secured a 3-1 win over Guardian Angel SC in the previous match.

The match was restricted to midfield play in the first few minutes which came into action in the 23rd minute with a swift attack from Calangute forward Junior de Johnson Carret. Cameroon forward went for glory from inside the box but Velsao's skipper Ronaldo Pereira made a timely block at the cost of a corner. A minute later, they came with another attack as this time Jovito looked at the goal but couldn't keep his strike on target.

The beachside had another goal-scoring opportunity in the 29th minute when Moises D'Sa sent a pass to Jovito who made a low cross to overlapping Saeesh Halarnkar. However, the midfielder's tap went over the frame from close.

After wasting many opportunities, the Beachside finally managed to take the lead in the 33rd minute through Saeesh. The midfielder made up for his earlier miss as he made no mistake to slot the ball home making justice to the smart move initiated by Cameroon forward Carret and Jovito.

The Beachside who wasted many opportunities in the first session made a great start to the second half as they took just two minutes to double their lead. Calangute's Joywin Carneiro and Saeesh Halarnkar shots were brilliantly blocked by Velsao's keeper Arnab Sharma but he could not clear the danger completely. The ball rolled to Joywin again who this time divingly headed in to make it 2-0.

Energized by a quick goal, Calangute extend their lead within the next four minutes as Cameroon forward beat the offside trap and finished the ball in the net making it 3-0 in the 50th minute.

The Beachside added another to their tally in the 69th minute as Umesh Pujar's power-packed left-footer from inside the penalty box gave no chance to Velsao keeper Arnab to make it 4-0.

Velsao who were completely overpowered by the opponents managed to pull one back in the 77th minute. Meuton Fernandes who replaced Vinoth in the 63rd minute, smartly beat onrushing Calangute's keeper Presley Mascarenhas and sent the ball in the empty net to make it 4-1.

Moises D'sa was judged the Man of the Match for his brilliant performance in the match.