AWES Cup sees first goalless draw as Salgaocar and FC Goa share spoils

The Green Brigade continued to impress with their youth squad.

FC Goa and Salgaocar FC played out a goalless draw in the AWES Cup 2018 match played at Tilak Maidan, Vasco, earlier today.

Salgaocar who stunned Indian Super League side FC Pune City in the last match had no changes to their side, as their coach Levino Pereira continued with the winning combination. Whereas, FC Goa coach Clifford Miranda made two changes to his side following a narrow defeat against Dempo SC in the opening match, as Jonathan Cardozo and Varun Mathur found the place in the starting XI.

With most of the youth players on both sideS, it was a treat to see pacy football at the Tilak Maidan, as the match started with continuous attacks from both the ends. While they also made some brilliant moves, which couldn’t stop the fans from cheering for the good football. Goa were the first to have a look at the goal in the 15th minute, when Kapil Hoble made a superb lay-off to Lalawmpuia in the box, who quickly went for glory, but the forward was denied by the post.

Ten minutes later, Salgaocar also came up with a quick attack, but like their opponents, Ronaldo Oliveira’s sparkling shot from the edge of the box hit the post, before going out for a goal-kick. Devendra Murgaonkar who was totally off-colour from the start of the match was in the action in the 28th minute, when he nicely curled the ball towards goal, but his effort went just wide.

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The Goans had a great opportunity at the start of the second half, when Imran Khan dangerously moved inside the box and blasted on goal, but Salgaocar custodian Jason D’Mello made a breathtaking save to clear the danger.

Salgaoacar replied with a quick attack where first, their skipper Mackroy Peixoto excellently danced past four opponents to enter the box, but his strike was saved by Goans' keeper Shubham Das. A minute later, the winger tried his luck from distance, where Salgaocar keeper Jason blocked it, but failed to clear the danger completely. The ball fell to unmarked Imran, who should have taken his side into the lead with an easy tap-in, but his weak shot was easily collected by the custodian.

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Tjhe Goans had another chance in the closing stage of the match when, Kapil setup substitute Aaren D’Silva with just the keeper to beat, but the fresh-legged striker failed to keep his shot on target.

The Gaurs had a golden opportunity to seal all the three points in the added-time when Salgaocar defender Steven Alvares brought down Imran in the box to give away a penalty, but substitute Hayden Fernandes saw his spot-kick rebound off the post.