Margao: Salgaocar beat Viva Kerala by a
solitary goal in their last match of the first leg of the ONGC
I-league at Nehru stadium in Fatorda here today.
After a barren first half, Salgacoar scored the all
important goal in the 59th minute through Keita Mandjou to
place themselves at 11th position with 13 points from 13
matches, one point behind Viva Kerala who are placed 10th.
The first half was mostly confined to midfield where both
the teams lacked the zeal to break the deadlock.
Salgoacar who had better ball possession failed to
produce the same flare which they displayed against Mohun
Bagan and Churchill Bros upfront, they seldom broke the rival
defense and the only time they did get a chance to score in
the first half it was the rival keeper Sharath K who rose to
the occassion to deny Beevan D'Mello and Cajetan Fernandes
from scoring.
On the other hand, the visitors came with couple of good
moves and nearly scored in the 31st minute when Sirajudeen
left footer was well put out by diving keeper Kalyan Chaubey
off a pass from Sakeer.
Salgaocar came with renewed ideas after the lemon break
and nearly went ahead in the 47th minute when a combined move
between substiute Lestor Fernandes and Beevan D'Mello which
saw the latter shot blocked by keeper Sharath, and off the
rebound Keita try at the goal was again save by the keeper.
After these close misses, Salgaocar surged ahead in the
59th minute. A combined move between Francis Fernandes who
relayed the ball to Lestor Fernandes, the latter dribbled past
a couple of defenders and squared the ball to better place
Keita Mandjou who slammed the ball into the net from close.
Salgaocar nearly increased the lead few minutes later
when Beevan D'mello found the net off a cross from Keita but
referee Andrew Shekar pulled Beevan off side.
Viva Kerala tried their best to equalise especially in
the closing stage but Salgaocar defense led by man of the
match Luciano Sabrosa stood the ground firm to give their side
full points.
Referee Andrew Shekar showed yellow card to Viva Kerala's
Reuben Senyo.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, February 13, 2010, 23:07