Himanshu Patil's brace force Goa to return empty handed from Santosh Trophy [Watch Highlights]

Ravish Narvekar

The Western Coastal side failed to secure a point in the Championship as they lost all five matches of Group A.

Goa's pride was at stake as they had lost four consecutive matches in the final round of the 76th Senior National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy 2022-23. However, Maharashtra crushed their hopes of concluding the championship with a win as they blanked Goa by an easy 2-0 margin in the Group A match played at Capital Football Arena, Odisha on Sunday morning. Himanshu Patil opened Maharashtra's tally in the 5th minute, while he completed his brace in the 89th minute to help Maharashtra conclude their group stage with a win.

Goa had a beautiful opportunity to surge ahead for the first time in the tournament when Lloyd Cardozo darted in the box and found skipper Clencio Pinto in front of the rival frame with a smart back-heel pass. But the Goan skipper couldn't keep his strike on target with just a rival keeper to beat. After wasting an early opportunity, Goa had another opportunity in the 4th minute as this time Clencio sent a diagonal pass to Lloyd in the box who smartly beat a rival defender and went for glory but his stiff grounder missed the target by meters.

It looked like, Maharashtra punished their neighbour for not capitalising on their chances and took the lead in the very next minute through Himanshu. Maharashtra skipper Sufiyan Shaikh made a quick run and sent a perfect through pass to Himanshu in the box. The forward made a clinical finish from inside the box to put their side ahead. A few minutes later, Maharashtra came with another swift attack as M? made a low cross to Himanshu in the box. The forward made a back pass to onrushing Shrikant Molangiri who tried his luck from the top of the box but Goan keeper Roanal Gaunkar stood between the midfielder's goalbound strike and the frame.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VwtkFVZhMY

Highlights of Santosh Trophy match between Goa vs Maharashtra

Goa also had two chances to level back as first, Trijoy Dias sent a pin-point perfect corner to Klusner Pereira who leapfrog between a bunch of opponent defenders but his header went over the crossbar. A few minutes later, Goa's Delton Colaco found himself at the end of the long pass from his teammate where the midfielder chose to go for glory from the edge of the box but his fierce strike went just over the rival frame.

Maharashtra should have doubled their lead just before the halftime whistle but aimless strikes from Himanshu and Indrajeet Chougule restricted the scoresheet as they went into the breather with a solitary goal lead.

Maharashtra continued to dominate after the resumption of play and came close to extending their lead in the 49th minute when Sufiyan picked up Sumit Bhandari with a through pass where the lad saw his scorching shot brilliantly blocked by Goan keeper Roanal. The ball rolled to unmarked Indrajeet in the box but the midfielder shot over the frame from close with an empty net infront of him. Sumit had another opportunity to extend Maharashtra's lead within the next five minutes as Sufiyan once again made a defence-splitting through pass to the midfielder but Goan keeper Roanal came with a diving save to deny Sumit.

Goans also came close to equalizing just before the hour mark as Klusner fed Clencio at the far post with a long cross where the Goan skipper made a brilliant footwork to beat Maharashtra defender Vishnu Menon and cut it back to unmarked Mahammed Faheez but another Maharashtra defender Stanley Peter made a timely interception to clear the danger. At the other end, another opportunity came to Sumit as this time Johnson Mathews tried to find him with a long cross where the midfielder chose to go for glory with an overhead kick but Goan defender Ganesh Thakur's timely interception diffused the danger.

Goa who was trailing by a goal, increased their pressure on the rival in search of an equaliser in the dying minutes of the match but it were Maharashtra who sealed their first victory of the final round with a goal in the 89th minute. Sufiyan sent a pass to substitute midfielder Ashley Koli who dribbled past Goa's last line and made a low cross in the box which was tapped in by Himanshu to make it 2-0.

Images & Highlights by: AIFF Media