Margao: In a pulsating match, Salgaocar
overcame a stiff challenge to down Churchill Brothers 4-3 to
maintain their second spot in the 8th round of the I-League,
played at Nehru Stadium, Margao, here on Saturday.
Both the teams dished out an entertaining soccer as they
moved the ball with quick short passes which saw lot of goal
bound moves in which six goals were scored in the first half.
Salgaocar had the first chance to take the lead in the
16th minute but Yusif Yakubu failed to beat rival keeper Lalit
Thapa in a one-on-one situation as he tried to loft the ball
over the head of keeper who collected the ball.
Churchill Brothers who looked more thrust-full in their
attack got a jolt as their goal machine Odafe Okolie had to
leave the field after pulling a calf muscle while he tried to
take a free kick, but the setback did not deter them as they
came with a counter move and took the lead in the 20th minute.
Robert Lalthlamuana from the left split the defence as
he laid a through pass to Kayne Vincent who positioned himself
before uncorking an angular drive to find the net.
Salgaocar quickly retaliated and secured the equaliser
in the 27th minute when defender Jaspal Parmar who received a
pass via Ryuji from a free kick took a shot which deflected
rival defender and eluded keeper Lalit Thapa to find the post.
Luciano Sobrosa than put Salgaocar in the lead in the
31st minute with a powerful header off a flag kick taken by
Ryuji Sueoka from the right.
But Churchill Brothers found the equaliser minute
later when Israil Gurung scored from inside the box off a pass
from Durga Boro.
Salgaocar who penetrated the rival boxes with quick
short passes scored two quick goals through flee footed
striker Ryuji Sueoka to earn him the man of the match award.
Francis Fernandes from the right let go a measured
cross into the box for Ryuji who found the back of the net
with a neat Volley beating keeper Thapa all ends.
Ryuji than ensured Salgaocar the full points when he
scored his brace from a penalty to make amends for his earlier
penalty which he failed to beat keeper Thapa in the injury
time fo the first half.
It was a little harsh decision by referee Dinesh Nair who
awarded the penalty after Ryuji Sueoka cross from the right
accidentally hit defender Rowlison Rodrigues hand who was
inside the box.
After the change of ends, Churchill Brothers held the
better ball possession and scoring chances managed to reduce
the margin when kayne Vincent found the net when he leaped
high above defender Irungbam Meitei to head the ball into the
net past the advancing keeper Karanjit Singh in the 65th
minute.
Thereafter, Churchill Brothers made all out efforts to
find the equaliser but rival defence led by Luciano Sobrosa
and keeper Karanjit Singh held gamely to ensure Salgaocar full
points.
Salgaocar now have 18 points from 8 matches, four points
behind league leaders East Bengal who have 22 points.
Churchill Brothers remained on third place with 13
points from as many matches.
Referee Dinesh Nair showed yellow card to Churchill’s
Zakeer Mundampara, Yumnan Raju Mangang and Salgaocar’s
Irungbam Meitei.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, January 09, 2011, 12:58