Goa Pro League: Manora edge Calangute Association for crucial win

Nicholas Fernandes and Jeh Wiliamson scored the goals for the newcomers.

Youth Club of Manora registered their first win, as they beat Calangute Association 2-1 in the Goa Pro League match played at Duler Stadium on Wednesday.

The skipper Nicholas Fernandes put the South Goans into the lead in the 33rd minute with a perfect free-kick from just outside the box, while Jeh Williamson doubled their lead in the 73rd minute. Whereas, substitute Rohan Pednekar reduced the margin for the Beachside in the 75th minute.

Calangute coach Valentine Ezeugo made three changes to his side. Domnic Fernandes, Siddha Mandrekar and Liberian forward Mark Harrison Jr. started for the Beachside. While, keeper Luis Barreto, Rishab Karapur and Willamson were the few changes for the South Goan side.

Calangute started the match on an attacking note and came close to scoring in the 8th minute. Ivorian forward Kouame Kossonou made a perfect cross to Mark in the box, but the Liberian striker could not make the most of the opportunity as Manora keeper Luis collected the ball on time.

Three minutes later, they once again had an opportunity to surge ahead as winger Siddha nicely curled the ball to teammate Chaitan Dabholkar in the box, but the lad failed to keep his free header on target from. The Beachside had the best chance to take the lead in the 28th minute. Midfielder Sidharth Kundaikar sent a defence-splitting long ball to Mark, who went past a defender but shot over the crossbar.

Manora who were completely outclassed by their opponents in the first 30 minutes stunned the Beachside when they were awarded a free-kick just outside the box, following a reckless tackle on Frazier Castanha by Sidharth. The skipper Nicholas nicely curled the ball into the far post to put his side into the lead.

Calangute should have found the equalizer four minutes later. Chaitan made a short pass to Kouame who released the ball to well-positioned Mark. He went for glory from the edge of the box only to see it blocked by Manora defender Joywin Carneiro. Another opportunity went in vain for Calangute in the 41st minute. Chaitan found Kouame with a fine cross from the right flank, but the Ivorian forward failed to control his strike from inside the box as the ball went out for a goal-kick.

It was just 30 seconds into the second half when Calangute had the best chance to find the equalizer. Manora defender Joywin failed to clear Kouame’s header just outside the box. Taking advantage of the same Calangute substitute Daryl Costa cut past a defender to enter the box, but his shot was brilliantly saved by keeper Luis.

The next 15 minutes saw Kouame breaking Manora’s defence on a couple of occasions. First, he failed to keep his powerful strike on target, while a few minutes later Manora defender Joywin blocked his goalbound shot at the cost of a corner.

At the other end, Manora doubled their lead in the 73rd minute. Sunstitute Aniston Fernandes intercepted Krishnanath Shirodkar’s clearance and passed it to Jeh, who covered some ground to enter the box and calmly finished the ball into the far post making it 2-0 for the South Goan side.

Just two more minutes later Calangute managed to reduce the margin. A long cross by Fulganco Cardozo was smartly headed in by substitute mideo Rohan Pednekar to make it 2-1.

The match turned more dramatic in the last 10 minutes as Manora defender Clive Colaco, who had been given a yellow card two minutes earlier was given his marching orders for unsporting behaviour. The Beachside were awarded an indirect free-kick inside the box, but Sidharth’s curling effort was nicely collected by Luis.

Whereas Calangute were lucky to escape without conceding a penalty in the added minutes when their defender Krishnanath brought down Aniston in the box.

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