Dempo outclass YC Manora to go atop

The Golden Eagles have scored 11 goals in their last three matches.

Dempo Sports Club trounced YC Manora 4-0 in the Goa Pro League match played at Duler Stadium on Thursday.This win took the Golden Eagles to the top of the table, with 13 points from six matches.

Dempo opened their tally in the 28th minute through Suraj Hadkonkar, while he doubled it in the 46th minute. Pedro Gonsalves and Latesh Mandrekar also found the net in the 52nd and 87th minute respectively. 

Dempo made only one change to their side which hammered Calangute Association by a 4-0 margin. Laximanrao Rane made his first start for the Golden Eagles. Whereas, Manora had numerous changes to their side following successive defeats in the last few matches.

Dempo made an attacking start to the match and came close to scoring in the fifth minute against YC Manora. Klusner Pereira tried his luck from distance, but his strike missed the target narrowly. In the very next minute, they had another opportunity. Desmon Pereira saw his strike rebound off the crossbar. The next minute saw another fierce attack from the Golden Eagles. Saiesh Bagkar found Pedro Gonsalves with a fine cross, but the forward could not place the ball in the net with rival keeper Tarique completely beaten.

However, Dempo surged ahead in the 28th minute a Pedro’s through pass was brilliantly collected by Suraj Hadkonkar. He later shot past the Manora custodian from just outside the box to put his side into the lead. A few minutes later, Pedro himself easily cut past a few opponents in the box and went for glory, but Manora keeper Tarique made a diving save to limit the damage for his side.

The Golden Eagles doubled their lead in the very first minute of the second half. A defensive error from YC Manora defender Rajinder gave the advantage to Suraj of Dempo. He easily got into the box and calmly finished the ball in the net to make it 2-0.

They added another to their tally within the next seven minutes. Gaurav made a brilliant cut-back to Pedro whose powerful shot gave no chance to rival keeper Tarique, making it 3-0.

At the other end, YC Manora came close to reducing the margin against Dempo. But, first Aniston Fernandes’ goalbound free-kick from just outside the box was nicely fisted over the crossbar by Dempo keeper Dylan Da Silva. A few minutes later, Joywin Carneiro sent a perfect cross to substitute Jason Barbosa. His header from point-blank range was brilliantly blocked by the Dempo custodian. The ball again rolled to the Manora forward, but this time his strike rebounded off the goalpost.

Meanwhile, Dempo added their fourth goal in the 87th minute. Richard Cardoz’s cross was spilled by Manora keeper. Unmarked substitute Latesh Mandrekar made no mistake to slot the ball home and make it 4-0. 

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