5-star Dempo coast past Corps of Signals

Joaquim Abranches scored a hattrick, while, Olan Chandran and Pedro Gonsalves scored a goal each for the Golden Eagles. 

A mesmerising attacking performance from Joaquim Abranches helped Dempo Sports Club to hammer Corps of Signals by a commanding 5-1 margin in the Goa Professional League match played at Ella, Dempo Football Academy earlier today.

This win helped Dempo to clear the gap at the top with seven points from the second placed Sporting Clube de Goa as they have 47 points from 19 matches, while Signals has 16 points from 20 matches.

Dempo were in fantastic form as they were unbeaten in the last 10 matches. They had recently defeated defending champions Sporting Clube de Goa, whereas, Signals had lost their last two matches against Sporting and Vasco SC.

After possession play in the first 10 minutes, Dempo came close to scoring when their U-20 winger Pruthvesh Pednekar tried his luck from the top of the box but Signals’ keeper Niyas Mon dived to his right to push his goalbound effort for a corner.

Signals also had an easy opportunity to take the lead in the 13th minutes when Suklab Bordolai made a darting run on the wing and found Aaron Alvares in the goalmouth with just keeper to beat but the skipper failed to keep his tap on target from close.

At the other end, Pruthvesh had another opportunity to put Dempo into the lead in the 19th minute as Pedro Gonsalves made a brilliant through pass to him in the box but Signals’ keeper Niyas once again made a diving effort to deny the U-20 winger.

A very next minute, the Army men stunned the home side as Aaron’s cross was smartly headed in by Suklab from 6-yards to make it 1-0 for the Signals.

Dempo regrouped and came out all attacking after conceding an early goal as Velito Cruz set up Jessel Carneiro with a lob pass in the box with just Signals’ custodian at the stake but Dempo skipper’s tap went over the crossbar.

However, in the 37th minute, Dempo managed to level the term when Jessel’s corner was nicely intercepted by Signals keeper Niyas, which rolled to Olan Chandran in the box. The defender later calmly cut past a defender and shot past custodian to make it 1-1 for his side.

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On crossing over, Dempo had the best chance to surge ahead in the 47th minute as Jessel made an excellent through pass to Pedro in the box who cut past a defender but failed to control his shot from 10-yards as the ball went out for a goal-kick.

However, it did not take long to take the lead for the Golden Eagles as substitute Jaison Vaz made a short pass to Joaquim who dribbled past two defenders in the box and clinically finished the ball in the net making it 2-1 for Dempo.

A minute before the hour mark, Signals almost made it all square when L. Solomon Khongsai went for the glory from the distance with Dempo keeper Tyson Caiado out of position but the midfielder saw his strike rebound off the crossbar, which was later cleared by Dempo’s defence line.

Energized by a lead, Dempo scored three more goals in the next 35 minutes as first, Pedro was brought down by Signals defender Nim Bhutia in the box to give away the penalty where Joaquim stepped up and made no mistake from the spot to make it 3-1 for his side.

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It was just seven minutes from the last goal when Joaquim completed his hattrick as his powerful shot from just inside the box gave no chance to Signals' keeper Niyas as Dempo took the lead by 4-1 in the 67th minute.

Dempo midfielder Pedro who was playing a vital role in the midfield also added his name to the score sheet in the 87th minutes as his sparkling shot from the top of the box entered the top corner making it 5-1 for the Golden Eagles.