Calangute beat Cavelossim in the Goa Pro League

Yogesh Kadam scored a brace for his team...

Calangute Association beat Santa Cruz Club of Cavelossim 3-1 as they registered a comfortable win in the Goa Professional League match played at Duler Stadium earlier today. Calangute head coach Valentine Euzego made one change to his side as Yogesh Kadam was back in the starting XI after serving a one-match suspension because of double bookings, while Cavelossim made two changes as Franzil Negredo and Joaquim Carvalho found their names in the starting XI. Cavelossim were badly in need of a win as they have managed to collect only four points from their last four matches. While Calangute were high on confidence after defeating Dempo SC in the last match. The match was restricted to midfield play for the first 15 minutes. But the first shot of the match came from Calangute striker Salim Mohammed. As the match progressed Calangute took control of the match and scored the first when Pedro Gonsalves showed excellent footwork on the edge of the box and passed it to Yogesh who sent the Cavelossim keeper the wrong way with his stylish fake and opened the tally for Calangute. At the other end Calangute defender Kouame M Bra Joaeph Yao handled the ball in the area to give away a penalty. Suraj Hadkonkar scored from the spot-kick to make it 1-1 for the Cavelossim side. Soon after the goal Cavelossim marched one more time into the opposition box but the Calangute keeper stood tall to deny Daulat Desai. But after conceding a goal Calangute were in attacking mood and attacked twice on the Cavelossim goal but did not find the lead. First Yogesh failed to connect Runall Shirodkar’s curler and later Sunny Fernandes' shot missed the target by a whisker. Finally just before the first half whistle Calangute took the lead when Salim’s shot got deflected off a Cavelossim defender and rolled to a well-placed Yogesh who clinically finished it into the net. Calangute came close to scoring again within three minutes of the second half when Pedro’s curling shot rebounded off the post. But they did not take too long and inflated their lead in the very next minute when Runall brilliantly combined with Yogesh before placing the ball into the back of the nylons. One more chance came Calangute’s way but this time Pedro failed to put power in his shot from close range. At the other end Cavelossim’s Mathew Colaco came up with two brilliant crosses from the right. First Suraj failed to keep his shot on target from six yards and later Gammy Costa failed to keep his header on target. Last ten minutes of the match were intense for both the teams with chances at both ends. Calangute had one more chance in the dying minutes but Newton Azavedo’s shot was very well blocked by defender Joaquim Carvalho. A glorious opportunity in l added time was wasted by Cavelossim when Daulat Dessai sent a low pass to unmarked Mathew Colaco, whose shot at the open goal was blocked by Calangute defender Melvin Lobo. The Calangute Coach was happy after the full-time whistle and said, “I am really happy. My boys played really well today.” With today’s win Calangute will move up one place to 5th position with 15 points from 9 matches, while Cavelossim will move down to 6th spot in the league with 14 points from 11 matches. Photo © : RJ 28