Salgaocar down Vasco in Goa Pro League’s Port Town Derby

Selwyn Miranda and Devendra Murgaonkar’s late goals sealted the win for the Greens.

Vasco Sports Club played their heart out but it was not enough as Salgaocar FC managed to seal a 2-0 win over the Port Towners in the Goa Professional League match played at Duler Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

With this win, Salgaocar has 17 points from eight matches, while, Vasco continued their poor form as they have 10 points from the same number of matches.

Vasco gaffer Micky Fernandes made one change to his side, which lost to Dempo SC in the last match. Schubert Pereira came back in the starting XI for the Port Towners. On the other hand, Flagan Rodrigues, Selwyn Miranda and Jason D’Mello were three changes for the Greens who had drubbed Calangute Association in the game before.

Vasco started the game on an attacking note and took just a few minutes to look at the goal as their U-20 winger Hussain carried the ball inside the box and went for the glory but Salgaocar keeper Jason made a diving save to keep his side safe. A few minutes later, Hussain was once again in action in the box as he was brilliantly fed by another U-20 player Aman Govekar but the midfielder saw his shot timely cleared by Salgaocar midfielder Rollwin Almeida.

The Greens took 23 minutes to create their first shot of the match when Almeida made a cutback to their skipper Mackroy Peixoto just outside the box but the midfielder failed to keep his shot on target.

At the other end, U-20 striker Aman brilliantly dribbled past two opponents in midfield and found Hussain on the wing who curled it to Anil Gaonkar in the box but the winger saw his header missed the target narrowly.

Salgaocar striker Ronaldo Oliveira had a chance to put his side ahead at the half-hour mark when he was set by his teammate Devendra Murgaonkar in the box but the forward shot wide from 6-yards. Another great opportunity went into the vain for the Greens in 36th minutes as this time Vasco keeper Sanju Thapa made an acrobatic effort to push Saurabh Patil’s goalbound shot for a corner.

Two minutes before this, Vasco had the best chance of the match to take the lead when Hussain once again came with a cross from the right flank but this time also the Port Towners could not manage to convert the easy chance as Anil failed to connect his header from the goalmouth.

On crossing over, Vasco continued their attacking and marched on opponents on many occasion but every time failed in the final third. In one of these, substitute striker Beneston Barretto who replace U-20 striker Aman received the short pass from Schubert and tried his luck from the top of the box but his sparkling shot missed the target by hairline distance.

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Salgaocar also had a chance to break the deadlock just before the hour mark as Almeida sent a perfect cross to Selwyn in the box whose bicycle shot went wide from close.

Vasco should have taken the lead in the 62nd minutes when a Sanwil D’Costa sent a pin-point freekick in the box to Denvil Fernandes but the midfielder's header went inches away from the post.

Salgaocar finally managed to surge ahead in the 68th minutes when Devendra shot was brilliantly tipped by Vasco keeper Thapa but he could not manage to clear the danger completely. Taking advantage of the same, well-positioned Selwyn slotted the ball home to make it 1-0 for the Greens.

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Salgaocar added another to their tally in the 86th minutes as this time Ronaldo found Devendra in the box who found the net with back-heel touch as the Greens sealed the match.

They had another chance to inflate their lead the dying minutes of the match as substitute Stephen Satarkar made a curling cross to Devendra in the box but the striker’s header was divingly pushed for a corner by Vasco custodian Thapa.