Bottom-placed Cavelossim hold dominant FC Goa in GPL

Leander D’Cunha gave the Goans the lead in the 53rd minute, while Cavelossim skipper Mathew Colaco canceled it out with just four minutes left on the clock.

FC Goa continued to drop points as they were held by bottom-placed Santa Cruz Club of Cavelossim to a 1-1 draw in the Goa Professional League match played at Duler Stadium earlier today.

With this draw, Goans sustained their third position with 19 points from 13 outings, while Cavelossim are struggling at the 11th spot with just seven points from 12 matches.

Goan side had two changes to their side following a 2-2 draw against Calangute Association in the last match as Brian Faria and Leander D’cunha were back in the Clifford Miranda’s XI, whereas Cavelossim who went down to Vasco SC in the previous round also made few changes as Yogendra Thapa, Samson Simoes and Michael Silva found their names in the starting XI.

Goans had an upper hand in the entire session as they continuously marched on the opponents but none of their moves successful to beat Cavelossim last line. They had the best chance in the 31st minutes when referee Shaikh Aboo awarded a free-kick just outside the box after Aaren was tackled by Cavelossim defender. Skipper Hayden Fernandes unleashed the powerful striker from the 25yard free-kick but his goalbound shot was nicely fisted over the crossbar by Cavelossim custodian Razak Devsor.

The last few minutes of the session saw, Cavelossim trying to build up some moves but their lone striker Alvito Miranda was brilliantly marked by Goan defender Meldon D’Silva and Lalnunsiama.

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Goan coach brought in newly signed winger Lalmuankima Hauhnar to replace injured Veegan Ferrao in the end of the first session, while he also made another change at the half-time, bringing in Yasir Mohammad to replace Aaren D’Silva. 

The second session started with a swift attack from the junior Gaurs when Krishna Pandit released a perfect through pass to Leander in the box who covered some ground and tried his luck but his sparkling shot went just over the crossbar.

The tactical changes by Clifford were clearly seen on the pitch as Goans opened their account in the 53rd minutes when Brain’s cross was nicely collected by Lalmuankima and squared it to the onrushing striker Leander who tapped in from goalmouth to make it 1-0 for Goans.

Goans had another chance in the 70th minutes when Lalmuankima came with a brilliant long ball to Krishna in the box but the winger failed to collect it. A few minutes later, Lalmuankima went for the glory from just inside the box but Cavelossim keeper Razak made a diving save to limit the damage.

At the other, Cavelossim equalised from the only chance of the match they got when Richard Fernandes’ corner was nicely poked into the net by their skipper Mathew Colaco to make it all square for his side.