Alston Camotio scores in injury time to garner three points for Sporting

Sporting defeats Salgaocar FC 3-2 by an injury-time goal to seal three points in AIFF U-18 League...

Sporting lived it late to walk home with their first win of AIFF U-18 I-League against their cross-town rivals Salgaocar FC at Duler Stadium on Tuesday evening. A brace from Veegan Ferrao (40’ & 47’) and an injury-time goal from Alston Camotio (90’+3) ensured the Oranje their first victory, Liston Colaco’s (48’ & 84’) solo battle for Salgaocar fell short of its mark this time. 

The first 15 odd minutes deposed some shallow action with the play mostly confined in the midfield. It was SFC who came out of the crust to create some action in the 25th minute when Kaushik Negi gave a swing from about 30 yards away testing Akshat Hadkonkar who had little trouble getting behind the ball.

Sporting responded through Alston Camotio in the 32nd minute, but his goal-bound shot was deflected off for a corner. Sporting finally drew the first blood in the 40th minute when the SFC custodian Nora Fernandes got down a charging Veegan Ferrao within SFC box, the resulting penalty was converted by Veegan making it 1 - 0 in favour of Sporting before the break.

Crossing over both teams stepped up the tempo showing urgency to dictate terms in the middle, young oranje were the first to make their mark in the 47th minute. Oranje striker Veegan received a great ball from Aliston on the right, the former swiftly turned to launch a powerful strike burying the ball into SFC net giving Sporting a comfortable 2-0 lead to sit on. However, SFC's Liston Colaco had different plans, the very next minute he collected a good ball from Devendra Murgaokar beating the offside trap to place it past Akshat pulling one back for the greens.

In the 50th minute, Liston had another opportunity but a heroic dive by Akshat saved the blues for Sporting. Sporting could have ended the Salgaocar resurgence in the 70th minute when Kinglsee Fernandes made a promising run on the left to cut in while creating space for himself, but his powerful shot went straight to Nora.

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It was then Salgaocar’s turn to create some pressure in the Sporting box towards the end, the greens were rewarded when the oranje defender gave away a silly penalty in the 84th minute allowing Liston to bring parity in the score-line. The final moments were, do or die for Sporting as they launched waves of attack from all direction.

Salgaocar's strategy of sending in long balls on the left hoping to find Liston were put to an end by some compact defensive work by the Oranje’s back line. Sporting's pressure finally worked when Princeton Rebello created a good move in the Salgaocar box to find Alston on the left who's fatal shot drilled past Nora ensuring the Oranje walked home with full 3 points. Sporting now has 3 points from 3 matches played and will look to continue their momentum going forward.