Calangute down ONGC to keep hopes alive

Myron Fernandes and Mayur Shelar scored for the beach side club...

Calangute Association registered a hard fought 2-1 win over ONGC in the AWES Cup Group A match played at Duler Stadium yesterday.   

ONGC had lost most of their preseason matches and were not in  good form. Their latest defeat was against Sporting Clube de Goa. On the other hand, Calangute also had a poor start to the cup as they lost 1-0 in their first match against Dempo Sports Club.

The ONGC coach named midfielder Nitesh Monde, winger Arjun Naik and keeper Soumya Das in his starting XI, while, Calangute coach Alex Alvares made three changes to his which lost in the last match as Omkar More, Runaal Shirodkar and Mayur Naik were the new faces in the starting XI for the beach side club.

The Mumbai outfit started the match on an attacking note and came close to scoring with just three minutes on the match clock. Mukesh Minz found Himanshu Patil in a good position with a perfect cross from the left but the striker’s header was nicely blocked by Calangute keeper Jason D’Mello. However, he could not manage to kill the move completely as the ball rolled to ONGC’s Arjun Naik who shot wide when he could have done better. 

A few minutes later, Myron Fernandes wasted an open chance to take Calangute into the lead when he shot wide from close range instead of directing it in the goal.

On the half hour mark, ONGC coach Pinho brought in Prathamesh Kasare to replace injured striker Ranjit Oraw and the substitute’s first touch could have taken them into the lead but Calangute keeper Jason brilliantly flicked Prathamesh’s shot over the crossbar for a corner.

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Calangute once again came close to scoring with just two added minutes left in the first half. Myron tried his luck from distance only to see it just miss the target. However, a minute later, Myron broke the deadlock when he made no mistake to tap in from close off Omkar’s low cross from the right flank, making it 1-0 for the beach side club.

On the resumption of play, Calangute almost doubled their lead when Bersal Viegas chose to go for glory from distance but his powerful shot was nicely fisted over the crossbar by ONGC keeper Das.

A few minutes before the hour mark, ONGC found the equaliser through Prathamesh. F.Lalmuanpuia’s free-kick was blocked by defenders in the box but they failed to clear the danger completely. Taking advantage of the same, substitute Prathamesh slammed the ball into the back of the net.

Ten minutes later, Calangute had a chance to go back into the lead when Joston Pereira’s cross found Josley Dias in the box but the striker’s header was easily collected by keeper Das.

With just a few minutes left on the match clock, Calangute coach Alvares made another substitution bringing in Yamnursab Pujar replacing exhausted Runaal in hope of a match winner.

Five minutes before the full-time whistle, Calangute were finally successful in scoring the winner when Joston’s blistering shot hit the goalpost and fell at the feet of Mayur who took no time to tap in from close and sent all their supporters into raptures.