Clencio shine in Sesa’s win over Salgaocar FC

Photo: Anthony Fernandes

Ravish Narvekar

The substitute forward scored a second-half brace to earn full points for his side.

Clencio Pinto came off the bench to help Sesa Football Academy secure an easy 2-0 win over Salgaocar FC in the Goa Professional League match played at Duler Stadium on Thursday evening. The substitute forward first took his side into the lead in the 76th minute with a perfect curler, while he sealed the victory for the Green Brigade with a powerful shot in the 84th minute.

The Academy boys had the best chance to take the early lead in the 4th minute when Aston Rodrigues set up his teammate Kunal Salgaonkar in the box with a short pass where the forward’s goalbound strike was timely blocked by Salgaocar defender Krishnanath Shirodkar. The ball again rolled to the Sesa forward but this time he failed to put power in his strike as rival keeper Jason D’Melo easily collected his weak shot.

Sesa were the dominant side in the first quarter of the match where they made some attacks on the rivals but the Salgaocar defence line kept every danger at the bay. At the other end, the Mormugao-based club took 20 minutes to come with their first attack of the match as Umang Gaikwad danced past two opponents to enter the box before finding Beckham Dias at the far post. The midfielder headed back to unmarked Shaviz Pathan in front of the goal but the forward could not keep his overhead kick on target as the ball went over the crossbar.

It looked like the first attack from the Green Brigade opened the gate for them as Salgaocar raided the rival cathedral on several occasions. However, they came close to scoring only in the 38th minute when Umanag once again made brilliant footwork to beat two defenders and tried his luck from inside the box but Sesa keeper Roanal Gaunkar made a diving effort to keep his side safe.

With halftime approaching, Salgaocar once again made a swift attack in search of the opener as this time a long clearance by Saurabh Patil was perfectly flicked to Shaviz by their skipper Ribhav Sardesai. The forward later covered some ground before unleashing the stiff grounder but this time also he could not direct his shot in the fame.

Both sides failed to capitalise on their chances, as the match was locked in a goalless draw at halftime.

With both sides failing to capitalise on their chances, the match was locked in a goalless draw at halftime. Sesa coach Charles Dias made three substitutions at halftime as Velrose Dias, Aston Rodrigues and Aman Rajbhar made way for Mohammed Faheez, Clencio Pinto and Beckham Singh. Whereas, Antush Moniz coming in for Beckham Dias was the lone change for the Greens at halftime.

The Academy boys who made three changes at halftime looked sharper than the first session as they made a series of attacks from the start of the second session. In one of these, their left-back made a darting run on the wing and curled the ball to Faheez in the box but his goalbound tap was excellently blocked by Salgaocar keeper Jason.

They had another golden opportunity to stun Salgaocar just after crossing the hour mark as Faheez swiftly moved at the top of the box and released a perfect through pass to Clencio in the box but the substitute forward shot over the frame with just rival keeper Jason at his stake. Another opportunity went begging for Sesa in the 65th minute as this time, another substitute Beckham went for the glory from the edge of the box only to see Salgaocar custodian Jason collecting it divingly.

After some back-to-back attacks, the Academy boys finally managed to break the deadlock in the 76th minute when Sandeep found Janak Kudmal with a through pass, who smartly tapped it to unmarked Clencio in the box. The forward cut past a rival defender before brilliantly curling the ball at the far post making it 1-0 for his side.

It was just eight minutes from their first goal when Clencio once again sent their fans into the raptures. The substitute forward who found himself at the receiving end of a long pass from Akash Kudnekar, made no mistake to shoot past the rival custodian from inside the box to seal the victory for Sesa.