Vasco SC come from behind to beat Guardian Angel in Goa Pro League

Goals from Francisco Fernandes and Chirag Mardolkar ensured full points for the Portside club.

Goals from Francisco Fernandes and Chirag Mardolkar ensured full points for Vasco SC, as they began their Goa Professional League campaign with a 2-1 win over Guardian Angel SC at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, on Wednesday.

Guardian Angel were off to a dream start, as they scored in the third minute through Gopi Raghunath Gad. The youngster cut in from the right flank and struck a powerful shot which easily beat Vasco goalkeeper Luis Barreto.

Vasco SC then started dominating, especially in midfield - however, their efforts lacked an end product. But, at the half hour mark they finally got their equalizing goal. A long cross from the left flank by Vasco midfielder Bersal Viegas found Chirag Mardolkar, who made no mistake to tap the ball home past Guardian Angel's 'keeper Oswin Rodrigues.

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Coming from the water break, GASC looked menacing, mainly by attempting long-range shots. Sahil Bhokare tried his luck from distance, which was easily dealt with by Barreto, who previously featured in the ISL.

There was another moment of magic from Sahil when he danced his way past three Vasco players. However, just before he could pull the trigger, he was brought down in the box by a Vasco defender. Although there were penalty claims by GASC, the referee showed no interest in the same. 

In the 41st minute, Guardian Angel were denied once again by Barreto. Gilbert Oliveira whipped in a free-kick from the left flank and Fedrich Fernandes' flicked the ball towards the goal. However, the former Raia custodian did enough to keep the scores level.

Just before the break, Guardian Angel came agonizingly close to regaining their lead when Sahil was sent through on goal. He covered some ground and unleashed a low grounded pass from the edge of the box which kept Luis on his toes, but his shot hit the post and came back into play.

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In the second half, Vasco SC came back stronger, enjoying more possession. They created a series of chances through Cavin Lobo and Kuldeep Kumar, but none of them were threatening. Guardian Angel kept on knocking, but at the other end, Peter Carvalho guided in Gilbert's free-kick from outside the box, thus forcing a save from Luis Barreto. 

Eventually, Vasco SC scored from a counter-attack, where Francisco Fernandes shot the ball past the Guardian Angel keeper from outside the box. 

In the dying minutes, Guardian Angel SC's Nicholas Rodrigues slammed a powerful drive from inside the box, which was dealt with by Vasco custodian Luis. Vasco's Joshua D'Silva missed a couple of chances late in the game.

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