Guardian Angel stun Sesa FA to score first points in GPL

The Curchorem side ended thier eight-match losing run with a solitary-goal win.

Guardian Angel Sports Club secured a stunning 1-0 win over Sesa Football Academy in the Goa Professional League 2022-23 match played at Duler Stadium on Monday evening.

Incidentally this is the first clean sheet for the Curchorem side. Sesa FA became the first side in the league to fail to score against the Guardian Angel team who had conceded 34 goals in their previous eight matches. Sesa FA remained on 11 points from eight matches and squandered their chance of moving up the table. The win could see them climb up to fourth position. Now they need to win their last few games to qualify for the Super League phase.

Coming into the game, Guardian Angel Sports Club looked the better side right from the first whistle and had early chances in the game. They had made a couple of inroads but couldn’t convert. The goal finally arrived in the 13th minute when Frank Adusei got the ball after Sesa FA defence failed to deal with a long ball. Adusei controlled the ball and fired past the keeper to put his side ahead in the game.

In the second half, Guardian Angel SC continued their attacking football and the second half substitute Brivon Dias also had a shot on goal, where he fired a lot shot after receiving a pass inside the box, but his well placed shot was denied by the post.

Minutes later, the first goal scorer Frank Adusei nearly struck the second goal where he saw his looping header which beat the Sesa keeper Ronal Gaonkar hit the crossbar.

The introduction of Clencio Pinto breathed new life into Sesa 's game plan. The youngster created a couple of chances for his side but failed.

Guardian Angel SC’s second half substitute Maxson Cavean Lopes received marching orders after receiving two yellow cards.

In the final 10 minute of the game, Sesa went all out to get the equalizer. First --Sanjay who had all the time and space to feed in Clencio in the box, chose to pass the ball way ahead of the player, thus denying a chance for Sesa to get the equalizer.

Later it was Sanjay’s low cross to Omkar Shetgaonkar, who flicked the ball on target, but Guardian Angel keeper Oswin Rodrigues was adamant in the evening not to allow the ball to pass him. He however received a yellow card late in the game for using time wasting tactics.

In the final minutes of the game, Sesa nearly struck the equalizer when Faheez made a darting run in the box, where Clencio Pinto was left unmarked. The cross took a deflection off a Guardian Angel SC defender and fell to Clencio Pinto, whose acrobatic overhead kick narrowly missed the mark.