Super-sub Beneston saves the day for Dempo against Churchill Brothers, Salgaocar down Sporting Goa

Ravish Narvekar

The newly signed forward Beneston Barreto scored in the back-to-back matches for the Golden Eagles.

Beneston Barreto came off the bench and scored the leveller for Dempo Sports Club as they held Churchill Brothers FC to a 1-1 draw in the Goan traditional derby of the Goa Professional League 2022-23 played at Duler Stadium on Saturday evening. Earlier in the match, substitute forward Malsawmdawngkima had put Churchill into the lead in the added minutes of the first session.

Dempo defender Brian Faria was judged the Man of the Match for superb performance in the entire match.

Shubert Pereira and Trijoy Dias were back in the starting XI, while Aniket Kanekar also made the start for the Red Machines who held FC Goa in the last match. On the other hand, Dempo had two changes to their side which defeated Velsao SCC in their previous encounter as Pedro Gonsalves and Vinay Harji were back in the lineup for the Golden Eagles.

Churchill had an early chance to take the lead when Dempo defender Brian Faria handled the ball inside the box to give away the penalty kick to the opponent. However, Shubert who is also a part of their I-League squad could not beat Dempo keeper Dylan Da Silva from the spot as Dempo custodian came with a diving effort to deny an early lead to the Red Machines. Churchill's Jobern Cardozo also had a chance to take his side into the lead when he cut past a few opponents to enter the rivals' box but shoot wide from inside the 6-yard box.

Dempo came with their first potent attack in the 17th minute when Darell Mascarenhas found Desmon Pereira in the box with a fine cross from the left flank. However, the midfielder's strike missed the target by a few inches. A few minutes later, Dempo's Kirtikesh Gadekar sent a long through pass to Pruthvesh Pednekar in the box who tried to cut it back to his teammate but a Churchill defender made a timely interception. However, the ball once again travelled to the Dempo lad who this time found onrushing Pedro in the box but the forward saw his goalbound shot blocked by Churchill defender George D'Souza.

Churchill's coach made the early substitute in the match as Shubert who failed to convert the spot kick was replaced by Malsawmdawngkima just after the half-hour mark. With adding of the forward, Churchill became more potent with the attacks. And after some probing attacks, the Red Machines finally drew the first blood in the added minutes of the session as Malsawmdawngkima intercepted a weak back pass from Dempo defender Shallum Pires and beat their custodian Dylan before finishing the ball in the empty net to make it 1-0.

Just before the rivals' goal, Dempo's Desmon tried to find Pedro with a short cross in the box where Churchill custodian Subhajit Bhattacharjee left his line to collect it before the forward could do any damage. However, the ball spilt off his gloves and rolled to well-positioned Kirtikesh who shot wide from a close distance.

It made no changes in the scoreboard for the Golden Eagles after changing the ends as the first 15 minutes of the second session witnessed a box-to-box fight where Churchill looked to extend their lead, while Dempo forwards tried to find the equalizer. However, the defence line of both sides were at its best to clear every danger. This forced Dempo coach Samir Naik to make changes as Vieri Colaco, Gaurav Kankonkar and Beneston Barreto replaced Desmon, Vinay and Pedro respectively just before the hour mark.

The change in strategy quickly reflected for Dempo as they managed to level back within a few minutes as a long pass from skipper Shallum was nicely chested by just-in forward Beneston and acrobatically shot past Churchill keeper Subhajit from inside the box to make it 1-1 in the 65th minute.

Energized by the leveller, Dempo made a few more potent attacks on the rivals but Churchill's defence led by their skipper George and Sanathoi Meitei made sure no Dempo man breach them in the final third. The Golden Eagles had the best chance to surge ahead in the added minutes of the match when substitute Jason Vaz set up Beneston in the box with a perfect lob pass where the forward went for glory with a lob shot over the onrushing Churchill keeper Subhajit only to see it go inches wide.

Salgaocar FC script another comeback victory

In another match played at Nagoa Ground, Salgaocar FC defeated Sporting Clube de Goa by an entertaining 3-2 margin. Salgaocar were first to take the lead in the 25th minute but Sporting Clubr managed to pull two goals back just before the breather through Richie Vaz and Chandan Gawas, with both goals being scored in the additional time.

In the second half Salgaocar were clearly the better side as Samuel Costa restored parity in the 78th minute. Antush Moniz then scored the match winner for Salgaocar in the stoppage time to seal full points for Salgaocar.

Salgaocar's Samuel Costa was named the player of the match and the award was presented by Sporting Clube de Goa president Natalina Vaz.