Nagaland hold Goa to top the Group III [Watch Highlights]

Ravish Narvekar

Goa will play Tamilnadu, while Nagaland will face Arunachal Pradesh in their last group encounters.

In a must-win game, Goa played their heart out but it was not enough as Nagaland held them to a goalless draw in the Group III match of the Senior National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy 2022-23 played at SAI Training Centre, Kokrajhar Assam. The draw helped the Hillsides to remain at the top with 10 points from four matches. While Goan wasted an opportunity to overlap the opponents with a win and remained two points behind them in second place with eight points from the same number of outings.

Nagaland coach Mughato Sumi made a couple of changes to his side which defeated Assam by a 3-1 margin as Khiuwanyu Peseyie and Kakhevi Assumi made way for Hoatinmang Thomsong and Pursunep. Goa gaffer Norberto Gonsalves, on the other hand, made only one change to his side which secured a 2-1 win over Arunachal Pradesh as keeper Sanij Bugde replaced Hansel Coelho under the frame.

The Western Coastal side started the match on an attacking note and came close to opening the tally in the 3rd minute when Stendly Fernandes made a darting run at the top of the box by cutting past a few opponents but failed to keep his shot on target from outside the box. The Hillside took more eight minutes to come with their first potent chance of the match as Sanyem Konyak sent a long pass to Pursunep in the box but their winger Thomsong brought down Goan keeper Sanij to give away freekick.

Goans once again raided Hillsides in the 22nd minute as Shallum Pires sent a long pass to Mohammed Faheez in the box but Nagaland defender Lironthung Lotha made a timely interception to clear the danger. Goa had another good opportunity in the 26th minute when they were awarded a freekick just outside the box following Nagaland skipper Sinenlo Kath’s foul on Goa’s Faheez but skipper Jovel Martin could not keep his strike on target from a dangerous freekick.

Goan skipper Jovel once again tried his luck this time from the left flank but his goalbound strike was brilliantly saved by Hillside keeper Neithovilie Chalieu. Nagaland also came close to breaking the deadlock in the 39th minute when Kevisanyu Peseyie sent a perfect pass to Toka Achumi in the box but his weak strike was easily cleared by Goan defender Shallum.

With both sides failing to capitalise on their chances, Goa and Nagaland went into the breather with goalless at halftime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgHv4vrWzhE

Highlights of Santosh Trophy match between Goa vs Nagaland

On crossing over, Goa’s Ganesh Thakur made a brilliant through pass to Stendly who swiftly moved to the deep right flank and looked at the goal from the distance only to see it missed by a few inches. The Western Coastal came with another raid on the Hillside in the 50th minute when their skipper Jovel made a short pass to Faheez who danced past a couple of opponents to enter the box but his sparkling shot was brilliantly pushed away by Nagaland keeper Chalieu.

Goa’s had two chances in the 56th minute as first, Nagaland defender Hemping L made a miss pass to Goa’s Stendly who without wasting any time released it to unmarked Faheez in the box but the forward failed to convert an easy opportunity. A few seconds later, Faheez was in action again this time he dribbled past a few opponents in the box and made a square pass to find his teammates but none of the Goans could make the most of the opportunity.

As the match progressed, the Western Coastal side became more prominent with their attacks. They should have taken the lead in the 61st minute when Faheez breezed past Nagaland's defence and chose to go for glory from just inside the box but his strike deflected off an opponent defender and landed in the feet of Trijoy Dias. The winger who has scored for his side in the last two matches was in the commanding position to make it “three-in-three” but the lad shot wide with the just rival keeper at his stake.

A poor defending by the Hillside in the 73rd minute put Trijoy once again in a commanding position who covered some ground to enter the box but Nagaland keeper Chalieu came off his line to thwart the Goan midfielder.

The Goans tried hard in the dying minutes of the match with back-to-back attacks from all sides but the Hillside stood tall to clear every danger. With just a few minutes left to the final whistle, Goa gaffer Gonsalves brought in Clencio Pinto and Lloyd Cardozo to replace Stendly and Domnic Soares respectively in the attack. However, the duo could not make any changes to the scoresheet until the full-time.

With this draw, Goa need to win their last match against Tamilnadu by at least a three-goal margin, while hope Nagaland to drop points against Arunachal Pradesh, to earn direct qualification for the next round.

Highlights Video: SportsCast India