MAPUSA: Saligao United Sports Club booked their place in the semi-finals of 1st all-Goa 9-a-side Reis Magos Panchayat Cup, organised by Verem Boys with a 3-1 win over Nerul Sports Club at Verem Panchayat grounds, on Wednesday.
In a fast-paced encounter, Saligao dictated terms right from the start and took the lead in the very 6th minute through a smart finish by Alfred Rodrigues off a cross sent by Joyston Dias.
Hardly had the cheers died down, Nerul got their equaliser through a 40-yard strike by Leroy Almeida, 1-1.
A dangerous tackle by Siddharth Shirodkar on Pravin Jadhav prompted the referee to point to the dreaded spot, where M A Francis made no mistake to put Saligao United once again ahead, 2-1.
On crossing over, Nerul did try their best to level terms but Saligao further increased their lead to 3-1, as Martinho Fernandes fired the ball into the nets from close range, after controlling the floater from Pravin Jadhav.
Adarsh edge past Sai Avatar in 3rd Division
Adarsh Yuvak Sangh defeated Sai Avatar Anjuna by a narrow 3-2 margin, to earn full points in the GFA Third Division League played at Anjuna Gymkhana grounds, Tembi on Wednesday.
Both the sides started earnestly, but an unfortunate self goal by Anjuna’s Sujit Korgaonkar, who in the process of heading the ball to safety saw the ball land into his own goal.
However, in the 42nd minute, Sadanand Jadhav made it 1-1 by tapping the ball home, off a perfect cross by Sankalp into the Saligao goal.
Sandesh Chopdekar netted a brace for Saligao while Sujit Korgaonkar made up for his self goal, by netting the second goal with a fine solo run from the left flank, 3-2.
SFX, St Xavier’s enter Subroto semis
SFX HSS Siolim registered a resounding 5-1 win over St Xavier’s HS Moira to enter the semi-finals of boys U-17 inter-school Subroto Mukherjee soccer, organized by Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs at Peddem grounds on Wednesday.
Kedar Kundalkar, Shubham Goverkar, Francis D’Costa, Sankalp Sadekar, Akshay Shirodkar found the nets in the first session for SFX while Velancio Abreu managed to score a consolation goal for Moira.
In the other quarter-finals, St Xavier’s HSS Mapusa also scored a 5-1 win over PVS Kushe HSS Assagao also to book their place in the semis.
Sanford Rodrigues scored two, Calancio Pinto scored two and Joel Fernandes netted in one for St Xavier’s while Palpesh Gadekar scored one for Assagao.
Meanwhile, St Xavier’s Moira, St Anthony’s Guirim, Assagao Union, Chubby Cheeks Porvorim entered the quarter-finals of boys U-14 Subroto Mukherjee football.
St Xavier’s Moira thrashed New Goa HS Mapusa 5-0. Darshan Gad, Devesh Malvankar, Nazareth Noronha and Gad Rajavan scored two. St Anthony’s HS Monte de Guirim defeated SFX HS 2-0. Francis Rodrigues and Alex Crasto were the goal-scorers.
Assagao Union defeated St Joseph HS Calangute by a 3-2 margin via sudden death while Chubby Cheeks Porvorim got the better of St Anne’s HS Tivim by a 5-4 margin via sudden death.
Nagoa pip Calangute Association
Nagoa Sports Club registered a solitary goal win over Calangute Association Sports Club to enter the quarter-finals of Maha Bank Platinum Trophy, organised by Adarsh Yuvak Sangh Saligao at Calangute Association grounds on Wednesday.
The match-winning goal came in the 10th minute of the first session as Sahish Palyekar controlled the cross sent by Pradeep Chopdekar and converted it with a neat placement.
Calangute was a different unit, after Bruno Coutinho took the field on crossing over as he kept the strikers busy by providing them some fine floaters. However, Rajkumar, Emmanuel D’Costa and Francis Fernandes failed miserably to deliver the goods.
