Dempo hammers Guardian Angels for five; Sesa FA, Churchill Brothers share the spoils at Nagoa

Ravish Narvekar

Suraj Hadkonkar played an influential role in Dempo's win with a brace and two assists.

Guardian Angel Sports Club suffered its fifth defeat on a trot as Dempo Sports Club registered a dominating 5-0 win over the Curchorem side in the Goa Professional League 2022-23 match played at Duler Stadium on Wednesday evening.

The skipper Pedro Gonsalves scored the opening goal for Dempo in the 31st minute, while Suraj Hadkonkar doubled the lead within the next six minutes. Sairon Albuquerque(67'), Necio Fernandes (68') and Suraj (70') added to the tally in the second session to secure a big margin win.

Dempo had many changes to their side which lost to Salgaocar FC in the previous encounter as Ariston Costa, Suraj Hadkonkar, Sairon Albuquerque, Saish Bagkar, Laximanrao Rane and keeper Wellyster Mendes found their names in the starting XI for the Golden Eagles.

Angels coach Riston Rodrigues also made a few changes to his side which suffered a defeat at the hands of Panjim Footballers as Valerian Hilario, Fulganco Cardozo and Pranit Tamang were added to the lineup.

Dempo had an early opportunity to surge ahead in the very 2nd minute as Suraj Hadkonkar snatched the ball from Angels skipper Gilbert Oliveira and released it to Pedro Gonsalves at the top of the box. The Dempo skipper set up onrushing Necio Fernandes but the U20 forward shot wide from outside the box.

Angels also came close to opening the tally in the 7th minute when Joel Bareto made a brilliant through pass to Jesloy Moniz but his strike from inside the box was excellently saved by Dempo keeper Wellyster Mendes.

A few minutes more and Angels came with another Swift attack from the right side as Fulganco Cardozo sent a long pass to Saivish Singh who easily cut past a Dempo defender to enter the box and went for glory from an acute angle but Dempo keeper Wellyster once again came with a brilliant save to deny the forward.

At the other end, Dempo's Ariston Costa made an inch-perfect through pass to Laximanrao Rane but the U20 midfielder could not beat Angels keeper Oswin Rodrigues.

At the half-hour mark, Dempo's Suraj made a swift run on the left flank and tried to find his teammate Necio with a low cross but Angels defender Milroy Clement made a timely interception to clear the dangerous cross for a corner.

The Golden Eagles finally broke the deadlock from the resultant corner as a fine cross by Suraj was smartly headed in by their skipper Pedro to put Dempo into the lead in the 31st minute.

Dempo had a chance to double their lead in the 34th minute when Necio was in the commanding position in the rival box but instead of assisting his unmarked teammate Ariston the U20 lad himself looked at the goal from a difficult angle. However, his strike missed the target by meters.

However, Dempo managed to double their lead in the 37th minute as Angels defender Chandan Oraw's back pass was intercepted by Suraj who darted in the box and calmly finished the ball in the net to make it 2-0 for his side.

The Golden Eagles continue to dominate over the opponent in the second half and came with another potent attack in the 52nd minute as the Angels defender failed to clear Brian Faria's long ball but well in position Laximanrao could not keep his strike on target from inside the box.

Another poor back pass, this time from Fulganco almost resulted in a goal for the Golden Eagles in the 58th minute but Angels keeper Oswin left his line to thwart Dempo's Necio.

Angels keeper Oswin came with back-to-back saves just after crossing the hour mark as first he came off his line to deny Dempo's Laximanrao in the 64th minute. Whereas minutes later, Necio should have extended Dempo's lead but once again Angels keeper Oswin came to rescue his side with a breathtaking save.

However, Angels keeper Oswin could not hold it for long as Dempo scored three quick goals in the next four minutes.

Suraj once again came with a fine corner to Sairon Albuquerque whose header gave no chance to the rival custodian making it 3-0 in the 67th minute.

A minute later, Dempo skipper Pedro sent a superb through pass to Necio in the box where the lad made sure that his shot finish in the back of the net for their fourth goal.

Suraj who had two assists and a goal to his name completed his brace in the 70th minute. Defensive laps by Angels put the Dempo forward with just a keeper to beat where his powerful strike finished at the far post to make it 5-0.

Dempo substitute forward Latest Mandrekar was unlucky not to add his name to the scoresheet in the added minutes of the match as his trike from the top of the box beat rival keeper Oswin but rebounded off the crossbar.

In the other match of the day, Sesa Football Academy held Churchill Brothers FC to a high-scoring 2-2 draw at Nagoa Panchayat Ground. The Red Machines opened their tally through Shubert Pereira's goal in the 28th minute, while Sesa's Beckham Singh cancelled it in the 41st minute. The Varca side once again surged ahead within the next three minutes as their skipper George D'Souza added his name to the scoresheet. However, the Academy Boys levelled the terms through substitute Clencio Pinto in the 78th minute.