Sporting Goa consolidate top spot with win over Calangute Association

The Flaming Oranje eased to a comfortable win to continue their impressive form this season.

Sporting Clube de Goa continued their unbeaten run as they eased past Calangute Association 4-1 in the Goa Professional League match played at Duler Stadium earlier today.

Calangute had suffered a defeat at the hands of Salgaocar FC in the last match, while Sporting were in the fantastic form as they had scored 10 goals in the last two matches against Corps of Signals and FC Bardez.

Cajetan Fernandes and Philip Odogwu were back in the Sporting’s starting XI, while Calangute coach Alex Alvares made three changes to his side as Josley Dias, Omkar More and Myron Fernandes found their names in the playing XI for the Beachside.

Sporting had a great start as they surged ahead in the 9th minutes of the match when Cajetan nicely curled the ball in the bottom corner from the 25yards free-kick after his teammate Quan Gomes was brought down by Calangute defender Bersal Viegas to give away the free-kick in the dangerous area.

A few minutes later, Sporting once again came close to scoring when their striker Abiola Afuwape dribbled past Calangute defender Kouame Joseph and tried his luck from the top of the box but keeper Jason D’Mello tipped his sparkling shot for a corner.

However, in the 20th minutes, Sporting doubled their lead through U-20 winger Myron Fernandes when their skipper Victorino Fernandes cut a past a defender and found the winger in the perfect position who slotted the ball into the net to make it 2-0 for his side.

Down by two goals within first 20 minutes, Calangute coach Alex brought in striker Blake Haldankar to sharpen them in the attacks and within just nine minutes coming off the bench the striker proved his calibre when he pulled one back for the Beachside with a powerful shot from just inside the box after getting a hold of a long ball from defender Joseph. 

Sporting restored the two-goal lead in the very second minutes of the second session when Cajetan’s free-kick was cleared by Calangute midfielder Myron which was collected by Philip and shot past Calangute keeper Jason from inside the box to make it 3-1 for the Flaming Orange.

The later part of the match witnessed a dominant play from the Sporting as they came with numerous attacks but none of their moves crossed the Calangute defence line.

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At the other end, Calangute defender Bonny Niasso went for the glory from just outside the box but his powerful strike was timely paired for a corner by Sporting keeper Melroy Fernandes.

Sporting added another to their tally in the added time of the match when Philip nicely cut past keeper Jason in the box and squared it to substitute Marcus Mascarenhas in the goalmouth who made an easy tap-in to make it 4-1 for his side.