Churchill Brothers’ Arron Bareto rescue a point from Calangute, Salgaocar FC trash Guardian Angel

Ravish Narvekar

The Greens climbed to the top of the table as they have 10 points from five matches, while the second-placed Churchill Brothers are just a point behind them with the same number of matches. The Beachside are placed fourth with eight points from four outings to their name.

Churchill Brothers FC came from a goal down to hold Calangute Association to a 1-1 draw in the Goa Professional League match played at Duler Stadium on Saturday evening. Calangute surged ahead through a fine goal by Nitish Hajra in the 61st minute, while Aaron Bareto levelled back in the 66th minute to earn a point for his side.

Both sides had dropped the points in their last-round match as Calangute were held to a goalless draw by Salgaocar FC, while Churchill played out a high-scoring 2-2 draw against Sesa FA. The Red Machines coach Peter vales made three changes to his side following a draw as Meldon D’Silva, Tipanna Bhavikatti and Gautam Dias were back in the lineup. Coach Alex Alvares, on the other hand, brought in Kunal Prasad in place of Nigel Silveira in the starting XI for the Beachside.

The match started with an end-to-end affair where Calangute’s Pandurang Gauns made a few raids in the rival box but every time failed to capitalize from inside the box. On the other hand, Churchill also had few chances where first their skipper George D’Souza sent a long cross to Aaron Bareto in the box where the forward chested it down in the box and set up onrushing Shubert Pereira but the midfielder shot over the frame from outside the box.

The box-to-box fight continued for the next few minutes where Churchill had the best chance to take the lead in the 20th minute with Trijoy Dias making a superb through pass to Bradley Carvalho who just had a rival keeper at his stake but the U20 mideo shot wide from close. Another opportunity came in Churchill’s way in the 27th minute when Jobern Cardozo tried his luck from outside the box where his strike hit Calangute skipper Saeesh Halarnkar’s head and surged towards their goal but Calangute keeper Presley Mascarenhas made a diving save to push the ball for a corner.

Calangute skipper Saeesh along with their winger Kunal and Cameroon forward Junior Carret made some swift attacks on the rival but failed to in the final third as Churchill's defence kept every danger at the bay to keep their side safe. Carret had the best opportunity to take his side into the lead in the added minutes of the session when Umesh Pujar made a defence-splitting through pass to the Cameroon forward whose chip shot from inside the box easily beat onrushing keeper Subhajit Bhattacharjee but missed the target by meters.

Churchill came with a swift attack just after changing the ends when Tippana sent a fine through pass to Bradley who covered some ground before curling in the box but Calangute defender Umesh cleared the danger before a Churchill forward could do any damage.

The Red Machines almost took the lead in the 56th minute when Trijoy danced past a few opponents and fired a powerful strike from the edge of the box but Calangute keeper Presley made a brilliant save. The ball rolled to unmarked Aaron in the box who tried to find the net from the first touch but this time Calangute defender Melvin Lobo came with a goalline clearance to deny the Churchill forward.

A few minutes before this, Calangute skipper Saeesh made a long pass to Carret in the box but Churchill custodian Subhajit left his line to timely collect the ball. However, the Beachside drew the first blood a minute after an hour mark as a well-taken corner by Moises D’Sa was brilliantly headed in by their defender Nitish Hajra making it 1-0 in the 61st minute.

Churchill did not take long to level back as Calangute defenders failed to clear a long pass by Hayden Fernandes in the 66th minute where Aaron took the advantage of the situation and slotted the ball in the back of the nylons to make it 1-1.

Calangute’s Carret should have put Calangute ahead in the 76th minute when he was brilliantly fed with a fine through pass in the box by substitute Richard Cardoz but Cameroon forward shot sky-high with a just rival keeper to beat from close. A few minutes later, substitute midfielder Richard himself tried his luck from the edge of the box where his goalbound strike was nicely fisted over the frame by Churchill keeper Subhajit.

Calangute had the best opportunity to take all three points home when they were awarded a freekick just outside the box following Meldon’s foul on Carret but Calangute’s set-piece specialist Moises could not keep his strike on target. At the other end, Trijoy cut past a rival defender at the right flank and sent a low cross to Aaron in the box but the Churchill forward shot over the crossbar.

Aaron was awarded the Man of the Match for an important goal which earned a point for Churchill Brothers.

Salgaocar trounce Guardian Angel

Salgaocar FC trounced Guardian Angel Sports Club by an overpowering 6-1 margin in the day’s second match of the GPL played at Nagoa Panchayat Ground. The Greens made a great start to the match with an early goal as Mark Carvalho put them ahead in the 20th minute, while Beckham Dias double the lead in the 29th minute as Salgaocar were leading by two goals at halftime.

The second half witnessed a hat-trick from the Greens' substitute forward Fhezer Gomes (46’ 71’ & 79’), while Mark who was judged as the Man of the Match, completed his brace in the 55th minute to help his side to climb to the top of the table.