Dempo ease past Guardian Angel, climb to top of GPL

Skipper Jessel Carneiro once again played a vital role in the Golden Eagles' win 

Dempo Sports Club climbed to the top of the table after registering an easy 4-1 win over Guardian Angel Sports Club in the Goa Professional League match played at Dempo Football Academy Ground, Ella earlier today.

The Golden Eagles have 32 points from 14 matches. Goan FC also has the same number of points from 13 matches, but goal-difference separates them at the top. Angels are placed 7th with 19 points from 16 outings.

Joaquim Abranches scored the opener, while Jaison Vaz came off the bench in the second half to score a hat-trick for the Golden Eagles. Sunny Fernandes scored the consolation goal for the South Goan side.

Angels had stunned Dempo in their last meeting, edging the former champions 2-1 in November. Meanwhile, they had also defeated Bardez FC in their last match. The Golden Eagles had blanked Velsao SCC in the last round match.

The Dempo coach made two changes to his side from the previous match, as Edwin Viegas and Pedro Gonsalves made starts in the absence of Mathew Gonsalves and Beevan D’Mello. On the other hand, Angels had no changes to their side.

Dempo should have taken the lead in the early minutes, when their skipper Jessel Carneiro setup Abranches in the box, but the forward’s powerful shot was brilliantly blocked by Angels keeper Ozen Silva. Two minutes later, Angels' custodian Silva came produced another fine save, as this time he blocked Carneiro’s sparkling shot from inside the box. The rebound was again shot by Abranches from 10-yards out, but defender Alson Fernandes made a timely block to keep his side safe.

However, the Golden Eagles took the lead in the 18th minute, when Carneiro made a through pass to Kirtikesh Gadekar, who covered some ground before curling it to Abranches in the box. The forward excellently headed the ball home from six-yards to put his side ahead.

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Just after conceding the goal, Angels went all out and created a few chances, as their U-20 midfielder brilliantly cut past two defenders to enter the box, but shot wide. A few minutes later, he wasted another easy opportunity to level things, as this time he intercepted a back-pass from the Dempo midfield and found himself in a commanding position after covering some ground, but this time also he failed to keep his strike on target.

The next few minutes were completely dominated by the hosts, as skipper Carneiro created several chances to inflate their lead but first, Abranches shot wide from in front of goal. Next, Carneiro himself failed to keep his chipped shot on target with just opposition keeper Silva to beat. Later, the left winger once again found Abranches with a cutback, but his goalbound shot was brilliantly blocked by the Angels keeper.

On changing sides, Dempo tactician Samir Naik brought in Jaison to replace injured striker Abranches and the forward took just five minutes to double the lead for the Golden Eagles. Suraj Hadkonkar’s fine cross was brilliantly shot in from close range by Jaison to make it 2-0 for the hosts.

Two minutes before this, he had another opportunity, when Suraj found him in the box with a low cross, but the striker failed to put the ball into an empty net. Pumped up by an early goal, Jaison added another to his tally in the 64th minute. After getting a through pass from Gadekar, he clinically finished the ball in the back of the net from inside the box.

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Jaison completed his hat-trick in the 82nd minute, when skipper Carneiro sent a perfect square pass to him in the box. The substitute striker just had to tap the ball home to make it 4-0.

Angels scored a consolation goal in the 84th minute, as substitute defender Aslon Oliveira took advantage of poor defending and sent a low cross into the box from the left flank and striker Sunny stretched to his limit to tap the ball into the net.