Anil Gaoncar rescues a point for Vasco against Panjim in GPL

Israeli Fady Riad took the capital city side into the lead in the 8th minute, but Anil Gaoncar cancelled it in the 41st minutes for the Port Towners.

Panjim Footballers managed to hold Vasco Sports Club to a 1-1 draw in the Goa Professional League match played at Duler Stadium earlier today.

Vasco who had lost to Corps of Signals in their last match made two change to their side as Guinean midfielder Vasseba Toure replaced Deryl Endro in the starting XI, while their coach Eban Mesquita also gave the start to goalkeeper Suresh Lamani, whereas Panjim coach Savio Vaz made only one change to his side which won all three points against FC Bardez in the last match as injured Kunal Kundaikar made way for Chandan Gawas.

Vasco should have taken the lead in the very 5th minutes when Franky Oliveiro sent a through pass to skipper Schubert Pereira in the box but Panjim keeper Gurpreet Singh nicely blocked him in a one-on-one situation.

Three minutes later, Panjim took the lead through Israeli midfielder Fady Riad who made no mistake to convert the penalty, after Vasco keeper Suresh brought down him in the box to give away the spot-kick.

The next 20 minutes, Fady had three more opportunities to inflate their lead but first, he was nicely thwarted by keeper Suresh in one-on-one, while a few minutes later, his powerful strike from outside the box was divingly cleared by Vasco custodian. Later, keeper Suresh once again ca,e off his line to block the midfielder in another one-on-one situation.

At the other end, Vasco found the equaliser in the 41st minutes when their winger Anil Gaoncar made a superb run from his own half dribbling past two defenders and banged the ball into the empty net after cutting past keeper Gurpreet to make it all square for the Port Towners.

Vasco had the golden opportunity in the very 6th minutes off the second session when Flan Gomes was brought down by Panjim defender Clive Miranda in the box to give away the penalty kick to the opponents but Franky failed to beat the keeper Gurpreet from the spot as he brilliantly dived to his right to clear the danger.

Israeli midfielder also had a few chances after the hour mark but two his shot was brilliantly tipped by Vasco keeper Suresh, while he failed to control his shot from inside in his third attempt. A few minutes later, Keeper Suresh acme with another excellent save when he divingly cleared Prisco Moura’s goalbound shot, whereas, Akeraj Martins saw his scorching shot from the distance denied by the woodwork.

At the other end, Vasco skipper Schubert made brilliant footwork in the box but his curling shot just went over the crossbar, while in the dying minutes, he easily cut past out of position keeper Gurpreet but his strike found the side netting.