Salgaocar double over Guardian Angel in the Goa Pro League

The Greens climbed to the 4th position in the table. 

Devendra Murgaonkar and Ronaldo Oliveira scored the braces as Salgaocar FC registered an easy 4-0 win over Guardian Angel Sports Club in the Goa Professional League match played at Duler Stadium earlier today. The Greens had hammered Angels in their previous meet by a 4-1 margin in late February.

This win helped Salgaocar to retain the 4th place with 38 points from 17 outings, while, Angels has 21 points from 21 matches and are placed 7th in the table.

Salgaocar had defeated Vasco SC in the last match, while Guardian were stunned by Calangute Association as they suffered a shocking 7-2 defeat at the hands of the Beachside in the previous round match.

The Greens started attacking straight from the kick-off as Ronaldo Oliveira snatched the ball at the halfway line and released it to Devendra Murgaonkar in the box but Angels defender Sarabjit Ram cleared it for a throw-in. A few seconds later, Ronaldo once again set up Devendra with a brilliant through pass in the box but Angels keeper Jeet Gupta thwart him in a one-on-one situation.  

Devendra had another opportunity in the 5th minute as he snatched the ball from Angels midfielder Precio D’Souza at the top of the box and shot from just inside the box but Angels' custodian was once again at his best as he blocked his powerful strike for safety.

Devendra striker once again broke Angels last-line in the 10th minutes as he danced past two defenders to enter the box but the 21-year-old’s shot was brilliantly blocked by another Angels defender Sarabjit in the goalmouth.

After wasting so many chances, Devendra finally found the net in the 34th minutes as Stephen Satelkar found Ronaldo with a short pass who made a low cross in the box where the forward just had to tap the ball home from close to put Salgaocar into the lead.

At the other end, Angels created their first potent chance of the match in the 38th minute when James Fernandes nicely curled the ball to Clinton Niasso in the box who headed at the goal but Salgaocar keeper Nora Fernandes who was just playing his second match of the season, made a diving effort to deny the striker from scoring. Whereas, Angels keeper Gupta also came with a brilliant save in the 45th minute as he stretched to his limit to push Ronaldo’s goalbound attempt.

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Salgaocar were unlucky not to double their lead in the added time as Selwyn Miranda’s curling corner directly entered the goal and hit and came back off his teammate who was at least a foot inside the box but the assistant referee Kashinath Kamat denied the goal as referee Sunil Nanodkar ignored the situation.

However, the Greens took just four minutes in the second session to double their lead as Selwyn easily dribbled past two defenders in the box and sent a short pass to unmarked Ronaldo. The forward made an easy tap-in from the goalmouth to make it 2-0 for his side.

Ronaldo doubled his personal tally and scored the third goal for his team in the 53rd minute as Stephen stole the ball from onrushing Angels keeper and shot on the goal from 6-yards but Angels defender Joaquim Carvalho cleared the ball off the goal line. However, the sloppy clearance felt into Ronaldo’s feet in the box who smartly slotted the ball in the back of the net keeping every opponent helpless.

Devendra also levelled his teammate’s tally as he scored his second and teams fourth goal in the 58th minute when he snatched the ball from Angels defender Joaquim and made a swift run before finishing the ball in the goal from just inside the box.

Angels almost reduced the margin in the 67th minute when Clinton Niasso’s well-taken corner was brilliantly headed in by Alvito Miranda from inside the box which brushed Salgaocar keeper Nora’s gloves and rebound off the side post which was later cleared by Salgaocar defender Stephen Alvares at the cost of the corner.

They came with another quick attack from the right flank as Alvito once again went for the glory from just inside the box with a powerful strike but his goalbound shot was cleared off the goalline by Alvares with a header. The ball travelled to just-in Aslon Oliveira whose shot went wide from the top of the box.

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Angels tried to build pressure on the opponents with continues attacks in the last quarter of the match as they had another opportunity in the 77th minute when Joaquim tried his luck from the distance but Salgaocar custodian Nora nicely fisted it over the crossbar to keep his side clean.

Salgaocar keeper Nora came with another breath taking save in the added time as Clinton headed on the goal off Sunny Fernandes’ cross but the custodian dived to his right to push the ball for a corner.