Defending champions Dempo leave it late against Panjim Footballers

Ravish Narvekar

The Golden Eagles secured hard-fought win over Panjim Footballers in the GPL's Capital city derby.

Velanco Rodrigues came off the bench to secure a win for Dempo Sports Club as they recorded a solitary-goal win over Panjim Footballers in the Goa Professional League match played at Duler Stadium on Wednesday evening.

The match started with an attack from the Golden Eagles as Pruthvesh Pednekar sent a long pass to Vieri Colaco in the box but the U20 lad failed to keep his strike on target from close. Panjim replied with a swift attack from the right flank in the 7th minute where Britto Pereira came with an inch-perfect cross in the box but Doyal Alves failed to connect from close. The ball travelled to unmarked Nicklas Noronha but the midfielder's shot missed the target by a distance.

The next few minutes witnessed complete domination from Dempo where they came close to taking the lead on a couple of occasions. Pruthvesh made a brilliant through pass to Necio Fernandes in the box but the U20 medio’s shot rebound off the side post. A few minutes later, Dempo’s Klusner Pereira sent a low cross to Aman Govekar in the box but the forward saw his tap miss frame narrowly.

They had another opportunity to surge ahead in the 26th minute when Vieri easily danced past three opponents to enter the rivals’ box but failed to keep his strike on a target with just Panjim’s keeper Preston Rego at the stake.

The Golden Eagles were the dominant side in the rest of the session as they made continuous attacks on the opponent but couldn’t breach their last line as both the teams were tied to a goalless draw at halftime.

The match was restricted to midfield play from the start of the second session as both sides tried to keep the ball. In between this, Panjim should have shocked the opponents in the 59th minute when their winger Nicklas made a through pass to Doyal in the box but the lad once again failed to keep the ball on target.

Dempo also had a golden opportunity to take lead in the 63rd minute when Suraj Hadkonkar made a pass to Vieri who covered some ground before unleashing the stiff grounder from close only to see it blocked by Panjim’s onrushing keeper Preston. Dempo’s unmarked forward Aman found himself at the receiving end of the loose ball but could not put the ball in the empty net from close as his header went over the crossbar.

Panjim’s substitute Johnson Horta should have put his side ahead in the 83rd minute as he was brilliantly fed by his teammate Doyal with a low cross infront of the goal but the lad shot wide from point-blank range.

Frustrated by the goal drought, the defending champions made several changes in the late second session as Pedro Gonsalves, Kirtikesh Gadekar, Laximanrao Rane, Velanco Rodrigues and Ariston Costa were brought in by their coach Samir Naik. And it looked like the fresh legs brought some energy to the game as Suraj found Pedro in the box with a brilliant through pass. The experienced forward went for glory only to see Panjim keeper Preston brilliantly blocking it at the cost of the corner.

The just-in Dempo midfielder Velanco stepped forward and nicely curled the resultant corner into the frame to break the deadlock in the 86th minute as the Golden Eagles earn full points from their opening match.