In-form Calangute hammer bottom-placed Cavelossim to get into top three in GPL

Nigerian Kouame Joseph shone in the Beachside’s victory with four goals

The Beachside go up to the 3rd position for the first time this season with 32 points from 21 matches, while Cavelossim has 12 points from 17 outings.

Calangute Association registered a comfortable 4-1 win over Santa Cruz Club of Cavelossim in the Goa Professional League match played at Duler Stadium earlier today.

The Beachside go up to the 3rd position for the first time this season with 32 points from 21 matches, while Cavelossim has 12 points from 17 outings.

Cavelossim coach Severino Fernandes made two changes to his side which drew against FC Bardez in the last match as Alvito Miranda and Nevile Fernandes were back in the starting XI for the South Goan club, whereas Calangute who had blanked Bardez by five goals in the previous round match also had one change as their coach Alex Alvares gave start to U-20 Selwyn D’Souza in the playing XI.  

Calangute started on attacking note and came close to scoring within 40 seconds from the kick-off as Nigerian defender Kouame Joseph set up Blake Haldankar with a perfect lob pass but his shot from just inside the box went into the waiting hands of Cavelossim keeper Razak Devsor.

At the other end, Cavelossim midfielder Rohan Kamble saw his Free-kick from just outside the box missed the target by Whisker. A few minutes later, Calangute keeper Jason D’Mello came with a diving effort to deny Moises D’Sa’s goalbound free-kick from outside the box.

Calangute once again came close to scoring in the 28th minutes when Kouame once again made an excellent lob pass to Selwyn but this time the forward saw his shot denied by side post. 

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Both the team made numerous attacks in the rest of the session but some aimless shots and superb defending forced goalless at the half-time.

However, in the second session, Calangute finally broke the deadlock when Kouame nicely took over the goalkick from his own keeper Jason in the box and shot past opponent keeper Razak from close to make it 1-0 for the Beachside in the 55th minutes.

Pumped-up by a goal, Calangute added another to their tally in the 62nd minute when Kouame found the net with a neat header from close off substitute Josley Dias’ perfect corner.

Down by two goals, Cavelossim coach Severino brought in Samson Simoes and the striker reduced the margin for his side in the very next minute after coming off the bench as the striker made no mistake to beat Calangute custodian Jason from the top of the box after getting a pass from Semson Fernandes.

However, 10 minutes later, Calangute restore their two goals lead when Kouame sent the keeper the wrong way from the spot to complete his second consecutive hattrick after Cavelossim defender Michael Silva brought down Blake in the box to give away the penalty kick.

With just three minutes left on the match clock, Kouame added another to Calangute’s tally when he made an easy tap-in from close off Blake’s low cross from inside the box to make it 4-1 for the beachside.