PANAJI: Sporting Clube de Goa enjoyed a perfect start in the Goa Football Association’s Selvel Goa Professional League following their 3-1 win over Panjim Footballers at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, on Saturday.
Clive Miranda (6′), Rohit Total (20′) and Akeraj Martins (48′) scored for the Flaming Oranje while Irfan Yadwad (53′) reduced the deficit for Panjim.
Sporting Clube de Goa started with Marcus Mascarenhas upfront along with newly promoted academy player Rio Fernandes playing as an attacking midfielder. Another aademy graduate Liston Cardozo also started for the Flaming Oranje on the right wing while Ozen Silva started in goal.
For Panjim Footballers, new signing Franky Oliveira led the attack along with Irfan Yadwad while Malcolm Gonsalves and Lokeshkumar Talwar were named in the midfield.
Sporting Clube de Goa took just six minutes to take the lead as it was Clive Miranda, scoring the first goal of the Selvel Goa Professional League season 2021-22 which came from a set-piece. Girish Naik’s corner was headed in the frame by Marcus Mascarenhas, which was blocked by Panjim Footballers keeper Preston Rego, however, Clive Miranda was quick to poke the ball behind the net off the rebound, 1-0.
With the defending champions dominating the play specially with their newly promoted youngsters, they deservingly doubled the tally in the 20th minute. Sporting’s Dattaraj Gaonkar tried his luck with a low grounder from outside the box, but his off-target shot was stopped by his team-mate Rohit Totad and placed past Preston. Panjim players claimed for an offside, but the youngster was fairly on, beating his marker, 2-0.
Panjim’s Irfan was impressive in the opening minutes though he lacked support from his side. However, they had a rare opportunity when Arif Pathan played a long ball in the box, which was headed over by Irfan over the onrushing keeper, only to see it sail over the bar.
Marcus squandered a golden opportunity to further inflate the tally when the Panjim defence failed to deal with Liston’s low cross. The veteran striker had just the keeper at his mercy, but his poorly taken shot was easily saved by Preston.
Panjim’s Irfan Yadwad was denied by keeper Ozen Silva in the 40th minute when the former was set through on goal by Pratik Naik.
Sporting Clube did not allow Panjim to settle after restart as they scored their third in the 48th minute. Rio Fernandes challenged a Panjim player and sent the ball to Akeraj Martins, who dribbled past three Panjim defenders and slotted home to make it 3-0.
In the 53rd minute, a defensive error from Girish Naik saw Irfan get the ball outside the box. The lanky striker fought his way into the box and slammed in the top right corner giving no chance for keeper Ozen Silva.
Panjm came agonisingly close to scoring their second when Lokeshkumar tried his luck from a distance. However, it took a slight deflection off a Sporting player and went out for a corner. The remainder of the game saw the teams play a more relaxed game as the match ended 3-1 in favour of Sporting Clube de Goa.
